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With   the   Compliments   of 

WILLIAM    HAGUE'S    CHILDREN 
AND    OF    THE    AUTHOR 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/discourseinmemorOOsmit 


DISCOURSE 


IN   MEMORY   OF 


WILLIAM     HAGUE 


REV.    S.    F.    SMITH    D.D. 


BOSTON 

LEE     AND     SHEPARD     PUBLISHERS 

10    MILK    STREET 

1889 


Boston  Baptist  Ministers'  Conference, 

Tremont   Temple,   April   30,    1888. 
To   Bev.    S.    F.    Smith,   D.D.  :  — 
My  dear   Sir,  — 
The   following  Besolution,   presented    by   Bev.    C.    H.    Spalding,   D.D.,   was 
unanimously   adopted   by   the   Conference  :  — 

"  Resolved,  That  our  thanks  are  due,  and  are  hereby  tendered,  to  Bev. 
S.  F.  Smith,  D.D.,  for  his  able  and  appreciative  eulogy  on  Bev.  William 
Hague,  D.D.,  delivered  before  us  on  the  morning  of  April  16th;  and  we 
express  the  hope  that  the  eulogy  may  be  published  as  a  worthy  memorial 
of  Dr.    Hague." 

For  the  Conference, 

Bespectfully   yours, 

WILLIAM    O.    AYEB, 

Secretary. 


MEMORIAL    DISCOURSE 


It  is  a  graceful  act  to  commit  to  permanent  record  the 
memory  of  those  who  have  been  influential  factors  in  the 
history  of  their  times.  Those  who  survive  such  persons 
are  bound  so  to  perpetuate  the  good  work  they  have  done. 
For  every  age  belongs  to  every  following  age;  and  that 
which  is  great  and  good  in  every  age  is  a  contribution  to 
the  greatness  and  goodness  of  all  the  ages  which  come 
after.  Even  the  most  obscure  lives  leave  an  impress 
which  is  long  in  fading  out  from  the  lives  of  their  succes- 
sors; how  much  more,  those  whose  force  and  conspicuity 
have  made  them  known  to  all  men. 

The  memoir  of  the  life  of  Dr.  Hague  is  rich  and  inter- 
esting, because  his  life  touched  many  other  lives  at  many 
points.  His  individual  history  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  the 
history  of  his  time.  Events  pertaining  to  his  personality 
have,  by  a  wide  sweep,  pertained  to  the  record  of  his 
age,  and  of  the  Christian  denomination  of  which  he  was 
a  part,  and  to  which  his  life  is  both  a  treasure  and 
an  honor. 

William   Hague  was   born  Jan.  4,   1808,  in  Pelham, 


6  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

Westchester  county,  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York  city. 
His  antecedents  brought  him  into  connection  both  with 
the  Huguenots  of  France  and  the  sturdy  Presbyterians 
of  England  in  the  period  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  His 
grandfather,  Rev.  William  Hague,  was  pastor  for  sixty 
years  of  the  Baptist  church  in  Scarborough,  England. 
His  father,  Mr.  James  Hague,  was  captain  of  a  vessel 
sailing  from  this  country  to  the  East  Indies,  from  about 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century.  He  became  inter- 
ested in  the  English  Baptist  missions  in  Serampore  and 
Calcutta,  spending  a  portion  of  his  Sabbaths  in  Seram- 
pore, and  putting  his  hired  house  in  Calcutta  at  the 
service  of  the  celebrated  missionary,  Dr.  Carey.  The 
arrivals  of  Capt.  Hague  in  New  York  were  hailed  with 
lively  interest  by  the  leading  members  of  the  Baptist 
church  in  Oliver-street,  as  an  opportunity  of  learning  of 
the  progress  of  the  mission,  and  of  hearing  details  of  the 
work,  supplementary  to  the  tidings  received  by  letter. 
These  communications,  doubtless,  proved  to  be  a  fruitful 
seed  of  the  interest  in  missions  ever  cherished  by  the 
Baptists  in  New  York,  and  since  diffused  throughout  the 
United  States. 

In  the  year  1813,  at  five  years  of  age,  the  boy  was 
placed  for  a  season  in  a  school  in  New  Canaan,  Conn., 
in  company  with  a  dozen  boys,  all  from  New  York. 
Here  he  received  the  first  rudiments  of  school  education. 
In  1816,  the  household  having  removed  to  New  York 


MEMORIAL     DISCOURSE.  7 

city,  he  became  a  member  of  a  school  of  more  advanced 
character.  Here  the  older  pupils  were  fitted  for  college ; 
and  here  one  of  his  fellow-pupils,  always  absorbed  in 
study,  and  always  foremost  in  rank,  was  William  R. 
Williams,  the  son  of  his  pastor,  Rev.  John  Williams,  of 
the  Oliver-street  church,  and  since,  for  many  years,  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  ministers  of  the  Baptist  denom- 
ination. After  completing  the  course  of  study  at  this 
school,  in  1820,  he  was  still  too  young  to  enter  with  ad- 
vantage on  a  college  curriculum;  and  his  father,  who  was 
a  man  of  much  practical  wisdom,  marked  out  for  him  a 
course  of  training,  both  physical  and  mental,  which 
proved  to  be,  in  all  respects,  most  useful  in  its  results. 
After  ploughing  the  deep  for  a  third  of  a  century,  he 
turned  his  attention  to  ploughing  the  land,  and  tempo- 
rarily hired  a  farm.  His  plan  was  that  the  young  student 
should  spend  a  part  of  his  time,  for  the  next  three  years, 
in  a  thorough  review  of  his  studies,  and  a  part  in  the  in- 
vigorating pursuits  of  agriculture;  then  he  purposed  to 
take  him  for  a  four  months'  trip  to  England;  afterwards 
he  was  to  resume  his  studies  and  carry  them  onward  so 
as  to  be  able  to  enter  college  in  an  advanced  standing. 
This  plan  was  successfully  carried  out.  Its  wisdom  is, 
doubtless,  vindicated  by  the  long  and  vigorous  life  to 
which  the  young  student  subsequently  attained. 

His  fellow-pupils  in  school  generally  became  students 
of  Columbia  College,  New  York.    But  young  Hague  was 


8  MEMORIAL     OP    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

providentially  induced  to  accompany  some  youthful  com- 
panions to  Hamilton  College,  Clinton,  N.Y.,  which  he 
entered  in  the  third  term  of  the  Sophomore  year. 

It  was  a  year  before  he  entered  college,  that  he  experi- 
enced that  great  change  in  which  "  old  things  are  passed 
away,  and  all  things  are  become  new."  At  Paramus, 
where  the  farm  leased  by  his  father  was  situated,  he 
attended  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Wilhelmus  Elting,  pastor 
of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  church.  The  words  of 
this  able  and  faithful  minister  of  Christ  brought  to  him 
effectually  the  message  of  salvation.  The  interesting 
account  comes  to  us  in  Dr.  Hague's  own  words :  — 

On  a  beautiful  Sunday  morning  in  June,  1823,  I  entered  the  old 
Paramus  Reformed  Presbyterian  church  in  a  state  of  entire  indifferent- 
ism  as  to  the  whole  range  of  subjects  appropriate  'to  the  day  and  the 
place.  On  that  day,  however,  Dr.  Elting  was  "  at  his  best,"  as  if  under 
some  exceptional  inspiration.  He  drew  his  text  from  Christ's  valedic- 
tory discourse  (John  xv.  23  :  "If  I  had  not  come  and  spoken  to 
them,  they  had  not  had  sin  ;  but  now  they  have  no  cloak  for  their  sin  ") , 
and  proceeded  to  set  forth,  as  a  characteristic  of  the  Master's  preach- 
ing, his  method  of  appealing  to  every  soul  individually  by  a  direct  testi- 
mony, presenting  himself  as  a  Divine  teacher  and  Saviour ;  calling  upon 
each  to  do  one  of  two  things  :  either  to  prove  that  testimony  to  be 
false,  or  treat  it  as  true  by  a  free  act  of  choice,  in  a  personal  self-sur- 
render. Emphasizing  that  idea,  he  affirmed  that  this  free  act  of  self- 
surrender  to  Christ,  in  answer  to  his  call,  puts  the  soul  into  a  new  rela- 
tion to  him;  and,  in  this  decisive  choice,  one  "  becomes  a  Christian." 
This  act  of  faith  on  the  part  of  the  soul  is  just  as  intelligible,  just  as 


MEMORIAL     DISCOURSE.  9 

simple,  as  was  the  poor  leper's  act  of  faith  in  regard  to  his  body  (Matt, 
viii.  1-3),  placing  it  before  Christ  for  healing,  and  thus  coming  at  once 
into  the  new  relation  of  a  patient  to  the  Divine  Physician.  There  is 
no  puzzling  mysticism  here.  Did  not  that  sick  man  act  rationally? 
AVould  you  not  have  gladly  done  as  he  did,  under  like  circumstances? 
In  offering  one's  own  soul  to  Christ,  responsive  to  his  invitation,  the 
intellect,  heart,  and  conscience  act  in  unity,  freely  yielding  to  the  high- 
est possible  motive  of  action,  namely,  the  loving  appeal  of  the  Saviour 
in  "laying  down  his  life,' of  himself,"  a  sacrifice  for  us;  as  he  did, 
when  he  let  sin  have  its  own  way  in  putting  him  to  death  on  the  cross  of 
Calvary,  and  thus  showed  forth  "  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin"  in 
man,  when  left  to  act  itself  out  according  to  its  essential  nature.  Now, 
a  human  being,  conscious  of  sin,  accepting  him  as  the  self-sacrificing 
Son  of  God,  having,  as  he  proclaimed,  "  power  on  earth  to  forgive  sin," 
in  that  veiy  act  joins  with  Jesus  in  "  condemning  sin"  (as  Paul's  ex- 
pression is  in  Rom.  viii.  3),  rejects  at  once  all  other  sacrifices  or  offer- 
ings of  merit  in  the  way  of  atonement,  enters  into  a  new  relation  with 
God,  based  upon  a  new  groundwork  of  present  acceptance  ;  and  so,  by 
this  act  of  faith,  or  sympathetic  union  with  Christ,  becomes  identified 
with  him  in  the  realization  of  "eternal  life,"  through  and  with  him, 
"  the  heir  of  all  things."  This  change  of  relation  is  a  real  salvation  for 
both  worlds;  because  the  subject  of  it,  "having  now  received  the 
atonement,"  recognizes  within  himself  a  grateful  love  to  the  self-sacri- 
ficing Redeemer,  that  is,  of  itself,  a  new  poiver,  "working  in  him  to 
will  and  to  do,"  and  insuring  ultimate  victory  in  the  long  conflict  with 
evil. 

In  the  delivery  of  this  discourse,  the  doctor  seemed  to  speak  with  an 
unwonted  and  touching  earnestness.  To  one  at  least  in  that  audience 
the  Christianity  of  the  New  Testament  disclosed  itself  in  an  aspect  of 
simplicity  unrecognized  before,  namely,  a  revelation  of  Divine  love, 
creating  a  responsive  love  in  the  human  soul  as  a  new  vital  force,  so 
that  before  the  sun  set  on  that  day  there  was  realized  the  consciousness 


10  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

of  a  new  love  as  a  motive-power  within,  of  a  new  relation  to  the  king- 
dom of  Christ  on  earth,  and  a  new  life-aim,  that  marked  a  turning-point 
of  personal  history. 

The  young  Christian  was  baptized  the  first  Sabbath  in 
June,  1825,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  by  Rev.  Spencer  H. 
Cone,  colleague  of  Rev.  John  Williams,  in  the  pastorate 
of  the  Oliver-street  church.  Mr.  Hague's  was  the  last 
relation  of  Christian  experience  to  which  the  aged  pastor 
ever  listened.  The  interview  with  Mr.  Williams  by  the 
young  candidate  for  church-membership  occurred  on  Sat- 
urday afternoon,  at  five  o'clock;  and  at  ten,  on  Sabbath 
morning,  just  as  the  worshippers  were  gathering  in  the 
house  of  prayer,  the  aged  pastor  was  summoned  to  join 
f?  the  general  assembly  and  church  of  the  first-born,  whose 
names  are  written  in  heaven." 

Mr.  Hague's  resolve  to  preach  the  gospel  must  have 
been  nearly  co-existent  with  the  development  of  religious 
feeling  in  his  soul,  long  before  he  united  with  the  Oliver- 
street  church.  "  It  seemed  always  to  be  understood 
among  us,"  writes  his  brother,  "  that  he  would  be  a  min- 
ister. He  was  always  preaching  in  some  way,  when  a 
boy.  He  received  almost  at  once,  I  think,  his  f  license,' 
which  he  holds  from  the  Oliver-street  church.  He  was 
soon  preaching  around,  and  in,  Hackensack,  to  which 
place  the  family  had  removed,  and  always  when  his  vaca- 
tions permitted." 

And  it  had  been  the  dream  of  his  childhood  that  he 


MEMORIAL     DISCOURSE.  11 

should  some  day  preach  the  gospel.  Once  when  he  was 
at  church  with  his  mother  in  Oliver-street,  New  York, 
hearing  the  Rev.  Mr.  Williams,  the  little  one,  turning  to 
his  mother,  excitedly  whispered,  "  Mother,  mother,  I  shall 
stand  there  and  preach  some  day." 

That  he  should  desire  the  ministry  is  not  wonderful, 
seeing  that  he  was  always  known  as  "  a  religious  boy." 
The  same  brother  writes  of  him  as  "  a  religious  boy  of 
eight  years,"  and  adds,  "  His  character  as  religious  was 
as  marked  at  thirteen  years  of  age  as  it  ever  was  since, 
more  developed  and  taught,  as  he  grew  in  grace.  But 
his  sympathies  and  desires  were  with  Christ  and  his  peo- 
ple as  far  back  as  he  was  capable  of  thinking  of  these 
things." 

Before  they  left  Hamilton  College,  several  of  the  young 
graduates  promised  one  another  to  meet  again  at  the 
Theological  Seminary  in  Princeton,  in  order  to  pursue 
study  together  with  reference  to  the  Christian  ministry. 
After  spending  a  year  in  that  seminary,  in  accordance 
with  that  agreement,  Mr.  Hague  providentially  met  in 
New  York  the  late  Nathaniel  K.  Cobb,  of  hallowed 
memory,  one  of  the  earliest  patrons  and  friends  of  the 
Newton  Theological  Institution,  then  in  its  infancy. 
Through  his  influence  Mr.  Hague  transferred  his  rela- 
tion from  Princeton  to  Newton,  where  he  finished  his 
preparatory  course  of  study  in  1828.  Here,  under 
the  influence  of  association  with  Francis  Mason,  after- 


12  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

wards  the  honored  and  successful  missionary  to  the 
Karens  of  Burma,  his  heart  was  stirred  to  inquire  as  to 
his  personal  duty  to  preach  Christ  to  the  heathen  world. 
Should  he  give  himself  to  the  work  of  a  Christian  mis- 
sionary? Seeking  counsel  of  the  Mission  Secretary,  Dr. 
Bolles,  he  received  the  advice  to  wait  a  little  while;  and 
the  suggestion  also,  that  Providence  would  soon  indicate 
to  him  a  special  work  in  the  home-field,  in  a  way  that 
would  leave  him  no  room  for  hesitation  as  to  the  path  of 
duty. 

While  he  was  yet  a  student  in  the  Newton  Theological 
Institution,  Mr.  Hague  received  a  call  to  the  pastorate  of 
the  First  Baptist  church  in  Providence,  which  he  mod- 
estly declined.  The  leadership  of  that  large  and  historic 
church,  where  many  persons  of  high  intellectual  training, 
including  the  officers  and  many  of  the  students  of  Brown 
University,  would  sit  at  his  feet  for  spiritual  instruction, 
was  too  formidable  an  undertaking  for  a  young  man 
without  experience,  and  whose  theological  views  had 
not  had  sufficient  time  to  become  consolidated  and  mel- 
lowed. In  such  a  community,  a  thousand  difficult  ques- 
tions would  be  likely  to  arise,  giving  anxiety  to  a  young 
pastor.  Men  of  years  and  wisdom  might  sometimes  differ 
from  him  in  judgment;  and  the  dread  of  mistake  or  fail- 
ure would  render  him  liable  to  commit  the  very  mistakes 
which  he  dreaded.  True,  he  had  been  the  choice  of  the 
aged  pastor,  Dr.  Gano;  but  that  venerable  man,  in  the 


MEMORIAL    DISCOURSE.  13 

transition  period  between  the  slow  and  uneventful  life  of 
the  old  and  the  intense  activity  of  the  new,  captivated  by 
the  eloquence  of  the  young  preacher,  did  not  foresee  the 
demands  of  such  an  age  as  was  then  opening.  Mr. 
Hague  was  destined  to  hold  that  high  position;  but  not 
yet. 

Instead  of  the  First  Baptist  church  in  Providence,  he 
became  pastor  of  the  Broad-street  Baptist  church  in 
Utica,  N.Y.,  and  was  ordained  Oct.  20,  1829,  being  not 
much  over  twenty-one  years  old.  The  sermon  on  the 
occasion  was  preached  by  the  revered  Dr.  Welch,  of 
Albany,  from  the  text,  Acts  v.  20 :  "  Go,  stand  and  speak 
in  the  temple  all  the  words  of  this  life."  A  season  of 
spiritual  interest  followed.  Crowds  attended  the  min- 
istry of  the  word  at  his  lips,  and  thousands  at  a  time 
witnessed,  on  the  banks  of  the  Mohawk  and  its  tribu- 
taries, the  baptism  of  rejoicing  converts.  The  first  con- 
vert baptized  by  him  here  was  his  own  younger  brother, 
afterwards  the  Rev.  John  B.  Hague.  His  residence  in 
Utica  was  a  period  of  blessed  harmony  among  Christians 
of  every  name,  who,  "  walking  in  the  fear  of  God  and  the 
comfort  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  were  multiplied." 

In  the  following  year,  1830,  perhaps  owing  to  the  infeli- 
city of  his  dwelling  near  the  river,  Dr.  Hague's  health 
began  to  be  seriously  impaired,  and  he  was  threatened 
with  loss  of  voice.  This  led  to  the  closing  of  his  min- 
istry in  Utica.      He  was  invited  at  once  to  the  office  of 


14  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

Professor  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages  in  George- 
town College,  Ky.  He  accepted  the  invitation.  The 
journey  to  the  South,  together  with  the  change  of  climate, 
restored  his  vocal  organs.  This  made  him  free  to  take 
up  anew  the  work  of  preaching;  which  he  did,  by  yield- 
ing to  the  call  to  become  pastor  of  the  First  Baptist 
church  in  Boston. 

He  came  to  Boston  near  the  close  of  December,  1830, 
and  was  installed  Feb.  3,  1831,  —  a  worthy  successor  of 
the  eloquent  and  revered  Stillman,  the  gentle  "Winchell, 
the  massive  and  intellectual  Wayland,  and  the  zealous 
Cyrus  Pitt  Grosvenor. 

That  was  a  transition  period  in  the  history  of  Boston, 
—  the  era  of  the  opening  of  railroads,  commercial  growth 
and  business  prosperity.  The  air  was  full  of  excitement. 
Doctrinal  controversies  were  at  a  white  heat.  People 
were  ranging  themselves  with  a  new-born  zeal  on  the 
orthodox,  or  the  liberal,  side.  A  few  of  the  older  genera- 
tion, who  had  heard  and  known  Doctors  Stillman  and 
Baldwin,  were  still  living, —  a  bond  of  connection  between 
the  then  present  and  the  past,  —  the  exponents  of  the 
one,  perhaps,  inclined  to  be  suspicious  of  the  other.  The 
religious  activities  of  the  new  period  were  just  starting 
into  being.  The  anti-slavery  agitation  was  gaining  force, 
and  the  voices  of  the  apostles  of  that  reform  were  heard 
calling  loudly  upon  the  people  for  action.  About  the 
same  time,  the  era  of  religious  re-construction  in  the  com- 


MEMORIAL    DISCOURSE.  15 

munity  came  on ;  the  forces  of  orthodoxy  and  heterodoxy 
were  marshalling  themselves  into  distinct  bodies,  and  the 
lines  between  faith  and  liberalism,  which  had  been  nearly 
obliterated  by  the  theological  methods  of  half  a  century, 
were  again  sharply  drawn.  Then,  also,  the  influence  of 
Mr.  Emerson  and  his  associates  and  followers  was  de- 
veloping itself  in  an  idealism,  which  a  few  of  his  foremost 
admirers  undertook  in  vain  to  make  practical,  —  their 
experiment  at  Brook-farm  ending,  subsequently,  in  disas- 
trous failure.  All  this  served  to  add  to  Dr.  Hague's  first 
pastorate  in  Boston  both  interest  and  difficulty.  He  was 
not  a  man  of  the  study  only.  He  was  also  a  man  of 
world-wide  sympathies,  mingling  with  the  dominant 
forces  of  his  times.  He  was  on  friendly  and  hospitable 
terms  with  the  elder  Dr.  Beecher,  Emerson,  Margaret 
Fuller,  Channing,  Gannett,  James  Freeman  Clarke,  and 
others,  both  as  a  critic  and  a  learner,  appreciating  all  that 
was  praiseworthy  in  them  and  their  theories,  and  prompt 
to  detect  and  condemn  that  which  was  mystical,  unscrip- 
tural,  and  impossible;  yet  always  with  so  gracious  and 
graceful  a  spirit  that  those  who  differed  from  him  still 
loved  and  honored  him.  The  proximity  of  the  church 
edifice  of  Mr.  Emerson  to  his  own  —  now  both  trans- 
ferred to  other  locations  —  brought  these  two  young 
preachers  often  into  contact  in  spiritual  relations  and 
official  services.  As  men  of  similar  age  and  profession 
they  had  much  in  common,  and  maintained  towards  each 


16  MEMOKIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

other  the  most  friendly  relations.  Mr.  Emerson's  radical 
ideas,  however,  on  some  theological  subjects  led  to  his 
withdrawal,  at  an  early  period  in  his  pastoral  service,  from 
the  pulpit  and  the  Unitarian  ministry.  Mr.  Hague,  on 
the  contrary,  holding  fast  to  the  truths  which  he  believed 
to  be  taught  in  the  New  Testament,  and  which  he 
had  espoused  from  the  beginning,  had  entered  upon  a 
career  which,  like  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude,  shining 
with  a  steady  and  assuring  light,  allured  and  guided 
many  a  weary  wanderer  into  the  paths  of  righteous- 
ness. 

Dr.  Hague  was  pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  church  in 
Boston  about  six  years.  They  were  years  of  prosperity 
and  growth.  The  congregation  had  removed  from  its 
ancient  structure  of  wood  in  Salem  street,  honored  as  the 
sanctuary  of  their  fathers,  and  reared  a  -new  temple  of 
brick,  on  the  corner  of  Hanover  and  Union  streets,  which 
was  thronged  with  attentive  hearers.  The  older  enjoyed 
this  new  era  of  life  and  prosperity.  The  young,  particu- 
larly young  men,  were  attracted  by  the  eloquence  of  the 
youthful  pastor,  ever  young  and  full  of  thought.  They 
felt  the  magnetism  of  his  sympathy.  They  accepted  him, 
almost  unconsciously,  as  their  friend,  and  submitted  them- 
selves to  his  guidance.  The  preponderance  of  dark  male 
attire  was  a  feature  of  his  congregations.  What  a  seed- 
time of  good  was  that  pastorate,  whose  fruit  is  partly  still 
ripening,  .and  partly  garnered ! 


MEMORIAL     DISCOURSE.  17 

This  brilliant  and  successful  pastorate  in  Boston  was 
terminated  by  a  call,  received  by  Dr.  Hague,  to  the  pulpit 
of  the  First  Baptist  church  in  Providence,  in  the  year 
1837.  This  church,  which  had  desired  his  gifts  at  the 
beginning  of  his  ministry,  had  not  lost  sight  of  him.  The 
present  invitation  came  to  him  under  such  circumstances 
as  indicated  to  him  the  voice  of  Divine  Providence,  and 
he  did  not  dare  to  decline  it.  His  first  sermon  in  Provi- 
dence, in  this  new  relation,  was  preached  June  25,  1837. 
During  his  ministry  here,  covering  a  period  of  three  years, 
he  crossed  the  ocean,  and  travelled  extensively  in  Europe. 
The  word  preached  by  him  was  accompanied  by  the  Divine- 
blessing,  and  many,  as  in  the  experience  of  his  former  pas- 
torates, were  brought  into  the  church.  He  won  numerous 
friends,  and  added  to  his  reputation  as  a  faithful  pastor, 
an  instructive  and  eloquent  preacher  of  righteousness. 

Shortly  after  his  return  from  Europe,  Dr.  Hague  was 
invited  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Federal-street  Baptist 
church  in  Boston,  afterwards  known  as  the  Rowe-street, 
and  still  later  as  the  Clarendon-street  church,  —  the 
growing  demands  of  business  compelling  the  church  to 
be  thus  migratory.  Dr.  Hague  characterized  this  period, 
and  the  four  years  following,  as  the  period  of  intellectual 
awakening  in  Boston,  leading  preeminently  to  religious 
and  philosophical  inquiry.  It  was  also  a  remarkable  era 
of  attention  to  the  claims  of  personal  religion,  and  "  mul- 
titudes were  added  to  the  Lord."     Day  after  day  hun- 


18  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

dreds  flocked  to  the  house  of  prayer,  and  many  of  them 
found  it  "  the  gate  of  heaven." 

During  this  period  an  interest  in  Christian  doctrine 
and  the  plan  of  salvation  through  the  atonement  was 
awakened  in  Boston,  which  was  altogether  unexampled. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Gannett,  the  colleague  and  successor  of 
Dr.  Channing, — whose  church  was  then  in  Federal-street, 
a  stone's-throw  distant  from  that  of  Dr.  Hague, : —  an- 
nounced from  his  pulpit  his  purpose  to  deliver  a  course 
of  six  lectures  on  "  Christ  and  Christianity,"  on  succes- 
sive Sabbath  evenings.  He  said  the  Liberal  pulpit  for 
twenty  years  had  been  devoted  chiefly  to  ethical  teaching, 
so  that  a  new  generation  had  grown  up,  scarcely  know- 
ing what  to  believe.  These  lectures  excited  the  most 
lively  interest  in  people  hungry  for  truth  suited  to  satisfy 
the  wants  of  the  human  soul.  Congregations  of  atten- 
tive listeners  thronged  the  spacious  church,  filling  even 
the  galleries  and  aisles  half  an  hour  or  more  before  the 
set  time  of  service,  and  coming  from  every  part  of  the 
city  and  vicinity.  The  first  sermon,  on  the  subject 
"Who  was  Christ?"  was  two  hours  in  the  delivery;  yet 
none  thought  it  too  long.  By  a  divinely  ordered  co-inci- 
dence of  thought,  Dr.  Hague  had  been  led,  just  at  this 
time,  to  prepare  a  similar  series  of  four  sermons,  which 
was  already  completed,  and  ready  for  delivery,  when  Dr. 
Gannett  gave  notice  of  his  intended  course.  Dr.  Hague 
delayed  his  series  until  Dr.  Gannett's  was  concluded;  and 


MEMORIAL     DISCOURSE.  19 

then  immediately  followed  on,  while  the  public  ear  was 
still  opened ;  giving,  under  the  identical  title,  "  Christ  and 
Christianity,"  —  which  he  had  selected  and  determined 
upon  before  Dr.  Gannett's  announcement,  —  a  thorough 
exposition  of  the  doctrine  of  "  Christ  and  him  crucified," 
setting  forth  clearly  the  atonement  as  the  centre  and  core 
of  Christianity.  The  series  of  sermons  by  Dr.  Gannett 
had  happily  prepared  the  way.  The  church  at  every  ser- 
vice was  thronged  long  before  the  hour  appointed,  and 
in  large  proportion  by  the  same  audience  which  had 
attended  the  preceding  course.  "  It  was  an  inspiring 
assemblage,"  said  Dr.  Hague,  "  a  marvellous  scene,  —  this 
continuous  flowing  together  of  thinking  men,  social  and 
denominational  leaders  mingling  with  younger  classes 
of  earnest  listeners,  all  alike  welcoming  the  most  free 
and  direct  discussion  of  the  central  doctrines  of  Christian- 
ity. The  like  of  it  had  never  before  been  seen  in  Boston. 
And  it  has  been  truly  said,  perhaps,  that  the  like  of  it 
has  not  been  seen  since,  and  may  never  occur  again.  The 
incidental  talk  of  the  streets  took  its  tone  quite  notably 
from  the  themes  of  the  pulpits,  exceptionally  free  from 
the  traditional  harshness  of  theological  controversy." 

Dr.  Hague  remained  in  the  pastorate  of  the  Baptist 
church  in  Federal-street  nearly  seven  years,  honored, 
beloved,  and  successful.  During  the  latter  portion  of  this 
period,  the  demands  of  business  made  serious  encroach- 
ments on  the  locality  of  the  church  edifice,  once  sur- 


20  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

rounded  only  by  peaceful  family  homes.  A  committee 
was  appointed  by  the  church  and  society  to  select  a  new 
location,  less  objectionable  on  this  account,  and  where  it 
might  seem  probable  that  for  many  years  the  people,  and, 
perhaps,  their  children  and  their  children's  children, 
would  meet  together  to  worship  God.  The  place  selected 
was  on  the  corner  of  Kowe  and  Bedford-streets,  from 
which  the  church  acquired  its  new  name,  —  the  Rowe- 
street  church.  Here  was  erected  —  the  pastorate  of  Dr. 
Hague,  continuing  till  after  the  edifice  was  completed 
and  dedicated,  —  a  beautiful  Gothic  structure,  of  brown 
freestone,  now,  alas !  no  more,  but  succeeded  by  the  ele- 
gant brick  church  in  Clarendon  street.  The  Rowe-street 
edifice,  whose  entire  ecclesiastical  lifetime  extended  only 
to  a  period  of  about  twenty  years,  was,  for  a  season,  de- 
voted to  business  purposes  and  then  demolished,  and  the 
materials  employed  in  the  construction  of  the  Episcopal 
church  in  Auburndale,  Newton. 

The  pastorate  of  Dr.  Hague  over  the  Federal-street 
church  was  followed  by  his  removal  to  Jamaica  Plain, 
Mass.,  where  he  remained  for  two  years.  Here,  settled 
over  an  affectionate  and  appreciative  congregation,  by 
his  persistent  industry  he  found  time  to  add  to  the  labors 
of  the  ministry  an  official  interest  in  the  editorial  depart- 
ment of  "  The  Watchman,"  which  required  weekly  con- 
tributions from  his  pen.  Thus  he  widened  indefinitely 
the  sphere  of  his  consecrated  influence. 


MEMORIAL     DISCOURSE.  21 

From  Jamaica  Plain  he  removed  to  Newark,  N.J.,  in 
April,  1850,  at  the  beginning  of  that  wonderful  era  of 
church-growth  and  colonization  in  that  city  which  has 
made  Newark  everywhere  a  name  and  a  praise;  and  of 
which,  it  is  not  unfitting  to  say,  Dr.  Hague's  eloquent 
ministry  was  the  stimulus  and  moving  cause.  Mission 
after  mission  was  originated  during  his  ministry  here  of 
nearly  four  years,  and  nurtured  into  a  vigorous  life, 
ripening,  in  due  time,  into  prosperous  churches. 

One  notable  characteristic  of  his  career,  as  illustrated 
both  in  Newark  and  New  York,  and  elsewhere,  was  his 
activity  in  building  up  churches,  and  developing  and 
perfecting  new  church  organizations.  Indeed,  his  ser- 
vices were  repeatedly  sought  for  special  emergencies,  and 
in  many  places  for  the  performance  of  work  in  which  he 
was  peculiarly  fitted  to  succeed. 

The  experiment  of  these  years  in  Newark  proved  that 
the  climate  of  this  part  of  New  Jersey  was  unfavorable 
to  the  health  of  his  family;  and,  resigning  his  pastorate  in 
that  city,  Dr.  Hague  accepted  a  call  to  the  Pearl-street 
Baptist  church  in  Albany.  Here  for  five  years  the  ties 
of  affection  between  a  loving  pastor  and  an  attached 
people  grew  continually  in  strength  and  promise. 

But  in  1858  providential  indications  of  larger  useful- 
ness, in  an  extraordinary  emergency,  led  him  to  resign 
his  place  in  the  capital  of  the  State,  and  to  remove  to  the 
commercial   metropolis.      He    began    his  work    in  New 


22  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

York  with  the  Lexington-avenue  Baptist  church,  and  in 
course  of  time  he  was  not  only  instrumental  in  the 
organization  of  the  new  society  in  Madison-avenue,  but 
their  church  edifice  also,  on  the  corner  of  Madison-avenue 
and  Thirty-first-street,  was  begun  and  finished  during  his 
pastorate,  under  great  and  peculiar  difficulties,  produced 
by  the  disturbing  influences  of  the  civil  war. 

Soon  after  the  successful  achievement  of  this  enter- 
prise, yielding  to  the  call  of  the  Charles-street  Baptist 
church  in  Boston,  which  had  been  for  a  considerable 
period  in  a  state  of  chronic  decline,  he  returned  once 
more  to  the  city  of  his  early  labors  as  pastor  of  an  almost 
forlorn  hope.  His  connection  with  this  church  was  a 
brief  one.  He  used  his  most  faithful  endeavors  to 
w  strengthen  the  things  which  remained ; "  but  it  soon 
became  evident  to  him  that  the  upbuilding  of  the  church 
and  restoration  to  its  pristine  prosperity  was  a  result  not 
to  be  expected.  Hence,  in  1865,  he  accepted  a  call  to 
the  pastorate  of  Shawmut-avenue  Baptist  church.  This 
church  subsequently  became  one  with  the  First  Baptist 
church,  with  which  he  began  his  labors  in  Boston  in  his 
early  ministry.  A  friend  has  written,  "  Review  the  work 
achieved  by  this  one  man  in  Newark,  Albany,  and  in 
Boston,  to  say  nothing  of  Providence  and  New  York, 
and  you  behold  results  sufficient,  in  each  place,  to  make  a 
monument  worthy  of  the  exertions  of  a  lifetime." 

Still  three   pastorates    awaited   him,  —  the  University 


MEMORIAL     DISCOURSE.  23 

church,  Chicago,  where  he  was  an  admired  preacher,  and 
also  Professor  of  Homiletics  in  the  theological  depart- 
ment of  the  University;  Orange,  N.J.,  from  1870  to 
1875,  loved,  honored,  and  successful;  and,  finally,  Wol- 
laston,  Mass.  As  a  theological  professor  he  was  enthu- 
siastic, stimulating,  magnetic,  —  drawing  instruction  from 
the  deep  wells  of  his  own  rich  experience,  and  inspiring 
the  students  by  his  own  example.  At  AVollaston  his 
pastorate  was  mainly  nominal,  the  congregation  craving, 
in  addition  to  an  occasional  sermon,  the  honor  of  his 
name  and  the  benefit  of  his  counsel.  A  colleague  was 
soon  introduced  to  take  the  labors  of  the  office,  and  for 
the  last  few  years  he  stood  related  to  the  church  chiefly 
as  Pastor  Emeritus. 

Why  did  Dr.  Hague  change  his  official  residence  as  a 
pastor  so  frequently?  Why,  in  a  career  of  fifty-eight 
years,  was  he  pastor  of  thirteen  churches,  —  an  average 
of  less  than  five  years  in  each?  Certainly,  not  through 
lack  of  ability  to  sustain  himself  longer  in  any  one  of 
them.  Not  because  his  friends  were  weary  of  his 
methods  and  desired  relief.  Not  because  he  did  not 
continue,  even  to  the  end  of  life,  to  be  a  vigorous  stu- 
dent, keeping  step  with  the  age  and  always  abreast  of  his 
times.  He  seemed  to  have  the  settled  conviction  that, 
whatever  might  be  the  duty  of  others,  it  was  best  for  him 
to  labor  for  the  Master  over  a  broad  expanse,  and  to 
infuse  himself  into  as  many  minds  as  possible.     In  every 


24  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

place  he  left  the  impress  of  his  personality  upon  many 
souls.  In  every  place  men  and  women,  especially  the 
young,  were  uplifted  by  his  influence  to  a  higher  plane 
of  thought  and  a  nobler  activity.  As  the  rose  shows  by 
its  lingering  fragrance  where  it  has  blossomed,  so  in  all 
the  fields  of  his  labor  there  remain  proofs  of  his  hallowed 
energy  and  his  broad  and  loving  spirit.  The  workman 
has  departed,  but  the  fields  he  tilled  continue  to  mature 
fruits  for  the  heavenly  garner. 

Dr.  Hague  has  given  many  'contributions  through  the 
press  to  the  literature  of  the  country.  ^Nearly  twenty 
publications  bearing  his  name  have  been  issued  at  dif- 
ferent periods,  including  lectures,  essays,  commentaries, 
reviews,  and  commemorative  discourses,  which  attest  his 
learning,  his  profound  thought,  his  historic  spirit,  his 
masterly  sMll  in  the  discernment  and  portrayal  of  char- 
acter, and  his  knowledge  of  mankind.  His  "Watch 
Notes,"  —  contributions  to  "  The  Watchman,"  —  running 
through  many  years,  and  embracing  the  stirring  period 
of  the  civil  war,  were  ever  welcomed  by  thousands  of 
readers.  In  several  commemorative  discourses  he  has 
preserved,  by  his  keen  analysis  and  attractive  style,  the 
memory  of  many  of  his  brethren  and  others,  —  a  choice 
legacy  for  all  time.  His  "  Life  Notes"  —  the  last  work  of 
his  brain  and  hand  —  contain  a  great  amount  of  valuable 
history  and  criticism,  never  before  and  nowhere  else  com- 
mitted to  writing,  —  the  matured  thoughts  of  his  latest 


MEMORIAL     DISCOURSE.  25 

experience,  an  admirable  grouping  of  the  great  epochs 
of  the  last  fifty  years,  and  the  rich  harvests  of  a  long 
life  of  sowing  and  reaping,  —  grouped  and  arranged  by 
the  hand  of  the  sower  and  the  reaper. 

We  have  thus  sketched  the  salient  events  of  this  long 
life  of  nearly  fourscore  years.  And  how  impressive  and 
beautiful  was  its  close,  with  no  intervening  period  of 
gradual  decay;  almost  with  "his  eye  .not  dim,  nor  his 
natural  force  abated,"  in  a  moment,  "  he  was  not,  for  God 
took*  him."  He  had  brought  the  last  proof-sheet  of  his 
book,  the  "  Life  Notes,"  to  his  publishers,  that  he  might 
congratulate  them  on  the  satisfactory  consummation  of 
their  mutual  labors.  It  was  on  a  calm  and  cloudless 
summer  day,  —  the  day  after  the  Sabbath,  whose  ser- 
vices had  been,  as  usual,  a  refreshment  to  his  spirit ;  and 
in  front  of  the  Tremont  Temple,  where,  in  the  pulpit  or 
on  the  platform,  his  voice  had  so  often  sounded.  He  was 
conversing  with  a  ministering  brother,  as  they  stood  on 
the  threshold  of  the  Temple,  when,  suddenly,  it  was  no 
more  to  him  the  threshold  of  the  earthly  temple,  but  of 
the  heavenly.  It  was  not  communion  with  a  Christian 
brother  in  the  flesh,  but  the  beginning  of  everlasting 
communion  with  "  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect." 
The  bustle  of  the  street  at  noonday  was  exchanged  for 
the  songs  of  the  redeemed.  "In  the  twinkling  of  an 
eye  "  the  conflict  was  ended,  and  the  coming  glory  was 
revealed.     Had  we  made  choice  for  our  brother  of  the 


26  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLI  AM    HAGUE. 

time  and  mode  of  his  departure,  we  could  not  have  chosen 
more  fitly. 

The  editor  of  "  The  Watchman,"  in  announcing  the 
death  of  Dr.  Hague,  wrote  as  follows :  — 

Dr.  Hague  was  more  fully  identified  with  Boston  than  with  any  other 
city.  Again  and  again  he  returned  here,  retaining  his  warm  friendships 
and  the  highest  respect  of  all  who  were  privileged  to  know  him.  In  the 
prime  and  fulness  of  his  powers  he  was  an  eloquent  and  commanding 
preacher,  and,  whether  addressing  men  with  his  lips  or  with  the  pen  in 
his  hand,  he  showed  such  command  of  his  subject,  and  such  fulness  of 
knowledge,  as  gave  weight  to  his  words.  A  man  of  large  and  well- 
digested  reading,  a  man  of  strong  and  well-trained  thought,  a  man  of 
ardent  Christian  and  humane  feeling,  he  was  quick  to  see  the  demands  of 
philanthropy,  and  early  took  an  advanced  stand  on  the  slavery  question. 
His  review  of  Fuller  and  Wayland  on  '*  Slavery  "  was  an  able  contribu- 
tion to  the  ethics  of  that  controversy.  At  the  same  time  he  was  on 
terms  of  courteous  acquaintance  with  men  from  whom  he  widely  differed 
on  important  subjects,  as  with  Emerson,  Parker,  and  other  leading 
Liberals,  as  he  recalled  in  his  "  Life  Notes."  Having  received  the  de- 
gree of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Brown  University,  in  1849,  it  was  again 
conferred  by  Harvard  College,  in  1863. 

To  the  last  Dr.  Hague  kept  up  a  warm  interest  in  current  discussions. 
He  was  averse  to  the  teaching  and  spirit  of  what  is  called  the  "  New 
Theology,"  and  kept  a  vigilant  eye  on  the  course  of  events  and  of  public 
discussion.  When  the  last  messenger  arrested  him,  he  was  saying, 
"  Baptists  need  no  New  Theology.  The  New  Testament  is  not  new  "  — 
when  he  fell,  speechless.  To  the  last  he  was  firm  and  consistent  in  his 
faith.  We  shall  miss  his  hearty  encouragement,  his  strength  of  faith 
and  unfailing  constancy.  He  was  a  man  to  be  loved  and  trusted,  the 
most  guileless,  trusting,  and  trustworthy  of  men,  "  an  Israelite,  indeed." 


MEMORIAL     DISCOURSE.  27 

So  startlingly  sudden  was  his  removal,  it  is  hard  to  make  it  real  to  our 
thoughts  that  we  shall  no  more  hear  his  cheery  greeting  or  exchange 
thoughts  with  him  in  private,  or  see  his  face  in  our  public  assemblies. 
He  served  his  own  generation  ably  and  faithfully.  He  is  not,  for  God 
has  taken  him.  With  thankfulness  to  him  for  the  gifts  with  which  he 
endowed  him,  and  for  the  length  of  years  during  which  he  permitted 
him  to  serve  the  churches,  we  reverently  leave  him  to  his  rest,  and 
lay  our  tribute  upon  his  bier. 

It  was  in  the  heart  of  summer,  on  the  fourth  of  August, 
1887,  while  many  of  those  who  knew  and  loved  him  were 
scattered  in  their  various  retreats,  notwithstanding,  a 
goodly  company  assembled  in  the  Tremont  Temple,  to 
attend  the  simple  burial  services.  Appreciative  remarks 
were  made  by  Rev.  Dr.  Olmstead,  Rev.  Dr.  Murdock, 
Rev.  Dr.  Lorimer,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  C.  Stockbridge,  Rev.  Dr. 
Alvah  Hovey,  and  Rev.  Dr.  S.  F.  Smith.  The  hymn 
K  Rock  of  Ages  "  was  sung,  and  after  prayer  by  Dr.  Mur- 
dock, and  the  benediction  by  Dr.  William  Howe,  the 
remains  were  taken  to  the  Boston  and  Albany  station,  to 
be  buried  in  Albany. 

We  bid  farewell,  with  profound  sorrow,  to  our  brother 
and  father  in  God,  whose  lithe  figure  and  quick  step  had 
for  so  many  years  been  familiar  to  us,  and  whose  attentive 
eye,  watching  with  fervent  interest  the  tides  of  debate  in 
our  deliberative  assemblies,  had  long  been  a  prominent 
feature  in  them.  We  shall  no  more  listen  to  that  ringing 
voice,  nor  admire  the  facile  elocution  by  which  he  used  to 
hold  the  attention  of  his  hearers,  his  personal  magnetism 


28  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

thrilling  them  as  by  some  magic  influence.  But  we  are 
grateful  to  God  that  he  allowed  us  to  enjoy  his  presence 
and  his  influence  so  long.  By  his  wise  counsel  and  his 
eloquent  speech  he  did  much  in  shaping  the  career  of  the 
churches  to  which  he  ministered.  His  broad  views,  his 
capacity  of  comprehension  and  elimination,  and  his  phil- 
anthropic zeal  contributed  not  a  little  to  direct  the  course 
of  his  denomination.  The  stainless  memory  which  he  has 
left  behind  him  is  a  precious  legacy  to  his  children  and  to 
the  church  of  God.  We  shall  ever  think  of  him  as  a 
blessed  illustration  of  the  words  of  holy  writ,  "  Thou  shalt 
come  to  thy  grave  in  a  full  age,  like  as  a  shock  of  corn 
cometh  in  in  his  season." 

In  his  preaching,  especially  in  his  later  pastorates,  Dr. 
Hague  aimed  to  make  his  discourses  exegetical  and  ex- 
pository, rather  than  ethical  or  theological-.  In  his  prayer- 
meeting  talks  he  opened  up  broad  fields  of  truth  and 
thought,  teaching  his  hearers  to  look  beneath  the  surface, 
and  by  a  careful  survey  of  the  context  to  draw  rich  les- 
sons from  the  Divine  word.  It  was  a  remark  of  one  of  his 
constant  hearers,  in  one  period  of  Dr.  Hague's  life,  "  It  is 
astonishing  how  much  he  finds  in  a  familiar  passage,  and 
how  a  text,  oftentimes,  glows  under  his  manipulation." 

From  the  first  he  was  much  accustomed  to  preach  with- 
out a  manuscript.  Yet  his  sermons  were  the  fruit  of 
earnest  labor,  and  he  set  a  high  value  on  the  "  notes " 
which  represented  so  much  of  his  life.  In  conversing 
with  one  who  spoke  lightly  of  his  preparations  for  the 


MEMORIAL    DISCOURSE.  29 

pulpit  after  they  had  been  once  used,  as  "  out  of  date," 
and  "  no  longer  exhibiting  the  preacher's  later  experience 
and  cultivation,"  Dr.  Hague  said,  "On  the  contrary,  I 
always  charge  my  family,  in  case  of  accident  to  my  house 
in  my  absence,  to  save,  first  of  all,  my  sermons  and  notes 
of  sermons."  His  brother  says,  "At  first  he  wrote  a 
great  deal  in  full ;  but  as  he  advanced  in  years,  he  used 
more  and  more  a  full- wrought  sketch;  and  this  was  his 
favorite  method.  He  liked  to  leave  room  for  the  freedom 
of  extempore  intervals,  returning  again  to  his  manuscript." 
A  new  epoch  in  the  style  of  sermonizing  marked  the 
commencement  of  Dr.  Hague's  ministry  in  Boston.  In 
most  churches  there  was  a  stereotyped  style  of  preaching, 
which,  because  of  its  universality,  and  because  it  followed 
in  the  rut  of  custom,  detracted  somewhat  from  the  force 
of  the  pulpit.  The  growing  neglect  of  public  worship  on 
the  Sabbath,  by  many  persons,  had  been  the  result.  The 
new  stirring  of  thought  demanded  new  methods.  Dr. 
Hague  introduced  no  new  doctrines.  He  adhered  fer- 
vently to  the  old  truths,  and,  perhaps,  did  not  discard  the 
old  philosophy,  through  which  the  gospel  had  been,  under 
God,  a  saving  power  for  hundreds  of  years.  But,  care- 
fully studying  his  texts  and  contexts,  he  drew  from  them 
in  an  original  method  the  Divine  lessons  they  contained; 
comparing  Scripture  with  Scripture,  he  opened  up  from 
every  passage  which  he  touched  broad  fields  of  impressive 
thought  and  Christian  instruction.      His  preaching  was 


30  MEMORIAL     OP    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

not  so  much  on  topics,  as  on  the  teaching,  in  every  text, 
of  the  Divine  word.  Possessed  of  great  fluency  of  speech, 
an  attractive  oratory  and  remarkable  self-possession,  he 
drew  around  him  the  young  in  great  numbers.  His  min- 
istry was  eminently  popular.  It  stimulated  and  fed 
thought.  It  taught  his  hearers  to  use  their  own  intellects 
on  the  high  themes  of  religion.  It  showed  them  that 
religion  is  a  most  reasonable  service,  alone  worthy  of  in- 
tellectual and  thoughtful  men. 

Dr.  Hague  was  a  diligent  student.  In  the  brief  jour- 
nals which  he  kept  for  years,  and  which  record  chiefly 
the  texts  of  his  sermons,  we  also  read  often  of  his  visiting 
the  libraries  in  his  vicinity,  in  search  of  more  light  on 
topics  he  was  studying.  Late  in  life,  while  recreating  at 
the  seaside,  we  find  him  for  successive  days  reading 
Plato's  "  Republic."  In  his  pulpit  in  the  Baptist  church  in 
Shawmut-avenue  he  kept  a  well-used  Greek  Testament, 
that  he  might  verify  any  chance  idea  or  interpretation 
which  might  possibly  occur  to  him  in  his  reading  of  the 
Scriptures  or  in  his  expositions.  When  he  resided  in 
Providence  a  friend  once  met  him  on  a  train,  bound  for 
Stonington,  as  he  said,  "  to  get  an  opportunity  to  write  a 
sermon  free  from  care  and  interruption."  In  ]S"ew  York, 
he  hired  a  room  in  a  part  of  the  city  remote  from  his 
home,  and  known  only  to  his  wife,  that  he  might  have  a 
place  for  mental  improvement,  meditation,  and  study. 
Probably  no  person  of  literary  proclivities  ever  investi- 


MEMORIAL     DISCOURSE.  31 

gated  more  patiently,  or  understood  more  thoroughly,  the 
mystical  theories  of  Emerson  than  he. 
.  His  faithful  work  as  a  minister  was  not  confined  to  the 
pulpit.  He  sought  individuals  in  private,  and  alone. 
Often,  before  a  public  service  or  a  prayer-meeting,  find- 
ing at  the  entrance  of  the  house  of  God  one  for  whose 
soul  he  yearned,  he '  has  been  known  to  spend  so  much 
time  in  pressing  upon  such  an  one  the  claims  of  the  gos- 
pel, that  the  waiting  audience  grew  impatient  at  his  de- 
lay. They  did  not  know  that  his  congregation  of  one, 
like  the  Saviour's  congregation  of  one  at  the  well  of 
Samaria,  was  more  to  him,  for  the  time,  than  a  multitude, 
and  more  important  to  him  than  meat  and  drink. 

Dr.  Hague's  mind  was  trained  by  study  and  thought 
to  great  delicacy  of  perception.  He  was  sharp  to  dis- 
cern, and  quick  to  appreciate;  discriminating  in  detect- 
ing qualities  and  characteristics,  and  skilful  in  grouping 
details  into  a  harmonious  unity.  He  was  eminently  social 
in  his  propensities,  and  at  the  same  time  loving  the  hard 
and  solitary  work  of  the  student.  . 

It  has  been  said  of  the  celebrated  essayist,  John  Foster, 
that  in  his  ripest  age  his  mind  had  become  so  keenly 
polished  and  refined,  that  he  could  scarcely  express  a 
thought  without  instantly  adding  some  modification  or 
qualification  of  it,  which  evidently  affected  his  style  as  a 
writer  and  determined  his  mode  of  building  sentences. 
The  methods  of  his  mind  were  indicated  by  the  peculi- 


32  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

arity  of  his  style  and  the  construction  of  his  sentences. 
Dr.  Hague,  in  his  later  life,  —  witness  his  "  Life  JSTotes," 
—  had  so  accustomed  himself  to  accumulations  of  thought 
upon  thought  and  fact  upon  fact,  illustrative  or  confirm- 
atory, as  essentially  to  control  his  style.  "He  wrote  in 
long  sentences,  sometimes,  as  in  the  "  Life  Notes,"  only 
three  on  a  page ;  and,  the  oft-recurring  words  significayice, 
exponent,  unify  and  unification,  organic,  and  organism, 
and  others,  remind  one  of  Cicero's  favorite  termination 
of  sentences  in  his  orations  by  the  words  Esse  videatur. 
These  oft-recurring  words  show  that  the  structure  of 
his  mind  was  philosophical,  logical,  historic,  prophetic, 
scientific. 

Dr.  Hague's  "  Life  Notes "  are  not  meant  to  be  an 
autobiography,  though  they  are  so;  but  rather  to  pre- 
sent the  characteristics  of  his  times.  He-  had  an  extraor- 
dinary gift  of  discerning  the  salient  points  of  succes- 
sive epochs,  of  detecting  the  drift  and  trend  of  the- 
public  mind,  separating  the  accidental  and  temporary 
from  the  substantial  and  constant,  and  by  a  philosophical 
generalization  shedding  light  upon  dark  problems,  and 
bringing  order  out  of  confusion.  The  work  is  remark- 
able as  being  at  the  same  time  an  autobiography  and  not 
an  autobiography.  It  is  not  a  personal  history,  so  much 
as  a  history  of  the  times.  And  yet  the  history  of  the 
times  embraces  the  history  of  a  life.  The  narrower  his- 
tory, pertaining  to  that  which  is  personal,  is  subordinated 


MEMORIAL     DISCOURSE.  33 

to  that  which  is  broad,  and  which  concerns  the  public. 
But  the  latter  is  seen,  at  every  step,  to  be  the  influence 
moulding  and  fashioning  the  individual,  and  determining 
its  force  and  spirit.  Hence  the  "  Life  Notes  "  present  a 
vivid  picture  of  a  period  of  fifty  years,  —  and  those, 
wonderfully  historic  years.  They  exhibit  the  prevailing 
characteristics  of  the  age,  of  the  men  who  shaped  the 
course  of  events,  political  and  ecclesiastical,  and  the 
themes  of  discussion  which  chiefly  occupied  the  public 
mind.  Of  and  in  all  these  he  was  a  prominent  part,  — 
always  eloquent,  impartial,  dignified,  ready  to  hear  and 
to  learn,  discriminating,  logical  to  judge,  charitable  to  the 
erring,  and  bold  to  maintain  the  truth. 

The  influence  of  Dr.  Hague  on  young  men,  of  which 
I  have  already  spoken  in  his  connection  with  the  First 
Baptist  church,  was  remarkable.  He  had  the  faculty  of 
attracting  and  winning  them.  Ever  young  himself  in 
spirit,  he  sympathized  with  young  men  in  their  ambitions 
and  their  trials.  He  was  skilled  in  finding  access  to 
their  hearts.  He  seemed,  more  than  most  ministers,  to 
be  an  apostle  of  influence  and  usefulness  to  them.  They 
gathered  around  him  as  a  friend.  They  confided  in  him 
as  an  elder  brother.  He  knew  how  to  approach  them. 
He  had  the  ability  and  the  tact  to  lead  them.  With- 
out seeming  to  lead,  he  led.  Without  seeming  to  rebuke 
them,  he  reformed  them.  They  felt  that  he  was  their 
friend.      They  saw  it   in   the  glance  of  his  eye.     They 


34  MEMORIAL     OF     WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

knew  it  by  the  gracious  tenor  of  his  words.  They 
felt  it  in  the  pressure  of  his  hand.  They  had  no  desire 
to  break  away  from  his  influence.  Only  the  coming 
world,  which  reveals  secrets,  can  tell  how  many,  by  his 
wise  and  loving  methods,  have  been  led  into  the  green 
pastures  and  beside  the  still  waters  of  salvation.  Some 
of  our  most  useful  and  noblest  brethren,  whose  praise 
is  in  all  the  churches,  are  the  fruits  of  his  hallowed 
wisdom. 

Dr.  Hague  was  eminent  for  his  lifelong  interest  in 
education  and  educational  institutions.  From  his  earli- 
est manhood  to  the  end  of  his  life  he  was  much  con- 
cerned with  schools  and  colleges.  During  his  earlier 
pastorates  in  Boston,  he  was  active  as  a  member  of 
school  committees  in  that  city.  He  was  a  trustee  of 
Brown  University  for  fifty  years,  and  of  Vassar  College 
from  its  beginning  to  the  time  of  his  death.  Both 
Brown  University  and  Harvard  University  conferred 
upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity,  the 
former  in  1849,  the  latter  in  1863. 

He  felt  a  deep  interest  in  the  work  of  missions  to  the 
heathen.  The  fire  kiiidled  in  his  student-days  at  Newton 
was  never  extinguished.     His  son  writes :  — 


His  interest  in  missions  was  intense.  He  would  talk  by  the  hour 
of  the  spread  of  God's  kingdom  in  the  world,  and  every  opening  or 
opportunity,  whether  political,  social,  or  commercial,  that  made  the  way 


MEMORIAL    DISCOURSE.  35 

clear  for  Christ's  messengers  was  hailed  by  him  with  joy.  To  his 
house  missionaries  were  frequently  and  gladly  welcomed.  Judson, 
Oncken,  Kincaid,  Jewett,  James,  and  others  made  the  foreign  field  at- 
tractive in  our  home.  He  was  especially  interested  in  the  mission  work 
of  Italy,  France,  and  Germany,  and  made  it  a  point  to  study  and  report 
upon  the  progress  of  evangelization. 


He  believed  that  men  full  of  American  ideas  and 
methods  were  not  to  be  sent  to  overthrow  the  customs 
of  a  civilization  different  from  their  own,  but  rather  that, 
through  and  from  the  people  themselves,  men  regener- 
ated by  the  grace  of  God  should  be  raised  up  in  the 
spirit  of  apostolic  missions,  through  whom  the  masses 
should  be  brought  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  in  the 
happy  experience  of  our  missions  in  Sweden,  Germany, 
and  adjacent  countries. 

A  high  spiritual  elevation  was  one  of  the  distinguishing 
characteristics  of  the  mind  of  Dr.  Hague.  "  To  his  chil- 
dren in  their  younger  years,"  I  quote  the  words  of  one  of 
them  in  ripened  manhood,  "his  presence  was  always  a 
stimulating  and  uplifting  influence.  And  I  may  truly  say 
that  in  his  later  years  I  rarely  spent  an  hour  in  his  com- 
pany without  being  impressed  by  the  high  range  of  his 
thought,  and  the  wide  difference  existing  between  the  na- 
ture of  the  things  which  occupied  his  mind  and  of  those 
which  engage  the  attention  and  energies  of  most  men." 

Dr.  Hague  was  always  of  a  sunny   disposition.      A 


36  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

casual  acquaintance  would  imagine,  from  the  ever  warm 
grasp  of  his  hand  and  cordial  greeting,  from  his  enthu- 
siastic words  and  looks  of  welcome,  from  his  cheerful 
manner  and  hearty  smile,  that  he  had  never  known  sor- 
row. But  twice,  at  least,  he  drank  deeply  of  the  bitter 
cup,  —  once  in  the  death  of  a  son,  twenty  years  and  three 
months  old,  to  whose  memory  he  dedicated  his  volume  of 
lectures  entitled  "  Home  Life."  And,  again,  in  the  loss  of 
his  wife,  whom  he  fervently  loved  and  trusted,  and  to 
whose  unwearied  care  he  owed  much  of  the  happiness 
and  the  success  of  his  life.  She  was  as  a  guardian  angel 
in  his  house,  watching  over  his  interests,  thoughtful  of 
his  dress  and  personal  appearance,  and  economical  in  the 
stewardship  of  his  exchequer,  —  a  department  which, 
owing  to  his  often  unthinking  and  lavish  generosity,  she 
found  no  sinecure.  This  sketch  would  be  incomplete  if 
it  did  not  embrace  a  tribute  to  this  partner  of  his  cares 
and  toils,  his  joys  and  sorrows,  who,  as  long  as  she 
lived,  was  his  helper,  shield,  and  ever  judicious  and  un- 
failing friend.  One  of  his  sons  records  this  testimony: 
"  He  was  greatly  influenced  by  his  wife.  Outside  of  his 
study  she,  in  large  measure,  controlled  and  guided  him. 
In  all  home  and  family  matters  she  was  supreme.  In 
church,  and  social  and  religious  work,  her  judgment  was 
sought,  her  advice  taken.  In  his  early  ministry  her  in- 
fluence on  young  people  was  very  great,  and  in  all  things 
she  was  his  counsellor  and  aid." 


MEMORIAL     DISCOURSE.  37 

Dr.  Hague  was  married  to  Mary  Bowditch  Moriarty,  in 
October,  1831.  She  was  born  in  Salem,  Mass.,  Dec.  4, 
1812,  the  second  daughter  of  John  Moriarty,  a  well- 
known  resident  of  Salem,  and  for  many  years  cashier  of 
the  Salem  Bank.  On  her  paternal  side  she  came  from 
Bowditch,  and  on  her  maternal  side  from  Crowninshield 
ancestry,  both  well-known  families  in  the  early  days  of 
Salem. 

One  of  Dr.  Hague's  sons,  to  whom  we  are  indebted 
for  many  facts  giving  value  and  interest  to  this  sketch, 
gives  the  following  testimony  as  to  his  father's  personal 
habits :  — 


He  was  very  industrious.  His  habit  was  to  be  in  his  study  by  half- 
past  six  in  the  morning,  always  to  walk  in  the  open  air  before  breakfast, 
and  invariably  to  give  the  forenoon  to  study.  His  afternoons  were  given 
to  pastoral  and  public  duties,  and  by  half -past  nine  he  returned  to  his 
study,  rarely  leaving  it  before  midnight. 

He  was  very  fond  of  his  children.  Affectionate  and  very  gentle,  he 
was  also  very  firm.  Obedience  was  his  first  requirement.  In  our  early 
days,  he  allowed  no  time  to  be  lost.  Besides  the  regular  lessons  of  the 
schools,  there  were  daily  lessons  in  French,  Latin,  or  history.  Through- 
out our  lives  he  has  been  an  example  and  an  inspiration  to  us.  No  hour 
could  be  lost ;  no  day,  without  its  duty  performed  ;  no  year,  without  its 
aim  at  some  high  purpose  to  be  accomplished.  Thus  he  led,  not  only 
us,  but  our  children  on,  and  to-day  his  grandchildren  are  quickened  by 
the  memories  of  his  words  and  his  life-work.  .  .  .  His  last  years 
were  quietly  spent  in  study  and  writing.  His  home  was  wherever  he 
chose  to  make  it.     The  homes  of  his  children  were  always  open  to  him  ; 


38  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

and  to  whichever  fireside  he  turned  his  steps,  his  presence  was  ever  wel- 
comed by  children  and  grandchildren  as  a  perpetual  benediction.  He 
loved  to  move  from  place  to  place,  to  cross  the  sea,  and  to  meet  his  many 
friends  in  other  lands.  He  had  no  lonesome  days.  It  was  often  diffi- 
cult for  him  to  make  an  appointment,  his  work  seemed  so  to  engross  him 
to  the  last.  All  his  ways,  however,  tended  in  one  direction.  Ever  and 
anon,  he  turned  toward  Boston.  For  nearly  thirty  years  he  had  preached 
in  the  city  and  its  suburbs.  The  faces  were  familiar.  The  friends  of  a 
lifetime  were  there.  The  libraries,  the  institutions,  the  streets,  were 
home  to  him,  and  he  would  not  stay  long  away.  He  often  said  he 
wished  to  die  at  his  work.     His  desire  was  granted. 


Loving  most  affectionately  his  own  family,  he  had  a 
happy  way  of  showing1  his  interest  in  others.  This  was 
often  illustrated  in  his  pastoral  relations.  It  is  related  of 
him  that  once,  in  ]STew  York,  a  fond  mother  brought  out 
her  young  infant  for  him  to  see,  and  praise,  and  bless. 
Taking  the  little  one  in  his  arms,  he  said  to  it,  "  You 
look  like  an  angel  just  come  from  heaven;  tell  us  the 
latest  news  from  the  city  of  God."  The  mother  never 
forgot  the  winsome  pleasantry,  and  thirty  years  later  she 
told  it  in  praise  of  her  pastor. 

His  affection  for  those  who  were  dearest  to  him  some- 
times determined  important  movements  in  his  life.  For 
example,  his  pastorate  and  professorship  in  Chicago,  that 
busy  hive  of  life  and  excitement,  to  which  he  was,  in 
some  respects,  eminently  adapted,  was  cut  short  after  a 
single  year,  the  health  of  his   wife    having  failed,  and 


MEMORIAL     DISCOURSE.  39 

warned  him  hastily  to  return  to  the  Atlantic  coast.  Mrs. 
Hague  died  in  Orange,  N.J.,  Dec.  30,  1870,  —  an  event 
which  sanctified  and  exalted  his  pastorate  in  that  favored 
locality. 

The  mental  developments  of  Dr.  Hague  were,  in  cer- 
tain respects,  very  beautiful.  To  one  of  these  his  brother 
calls  attention,  —  his  moral  delicacy.  He  writes:  "One 
characteristic  I  have  seen  alluded  to  by  two  persons  since 
his  death.  As  early  as  I  can  distinctly  remember,  —  say 
to  my  eighth  year,  —  he  maintained  what  I  would  describe 
as  a  certain  instinctive  moral  delicacy,  which  made  what 
was  vulgar  and  impure  repulsive  to  him.  And  it  is  but 
the  simple  truth  to  say  that,  in  all  the  long  and  varied 
life  which  we  both  lived,  this  was  never  lost.  It  was 
always  with  him  like  some  spiritual  presence." 

The  acquaintance  of  Dr.  Hague  with  distinguished 
characters  was  very  extensive.  Many  of  the  most  hon- 
ored men  of  his  period  —  men  exalted  in  church  and 
state,  in  philosophy,  literature,  and  philanthropy,  in  this 
and  other  lands  —  were  known  to  him.  He  was  accus- 
tomed to  exchange  thoughts  with  them  on  current  issues, 
religious,  moral,  and  political.  In  his  "  Life  Notes " 
more  than  three  hundred  names  are  found  of  persons  in 
various  spheres  with  whom,  during  his  ministry,  he  was 
brought  into  contact;  and  these  probably  represent  but 
a  small  portion  of  his  associates. 

"  His  range  of  reading  was  very  extensive.     History, 


40  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

philosophy,  poetry,  all  seemed  to  attract  him.  One  day, 
in  his  diary,  he  notes  his  chapter  of  Carlyle;  the  next, 
the  r  Light  of  Asia ; '  and,  again,  an  essay  of  Emerson, 
or  the  last  work  of  Kingsley;  with,  shortly  after,  a  note 
concerning  some  scientific  discovery  and  its  relations  to 
the  world  at  large.  He  was  ever  ready  to  take  up  and 
discuss  any  subject.  He  was  ready  to  impart  what  he 
knew,  and  quick  and  apt  at  drawing  information  from 
others.  And  his  last  years  were  quietly  spent  in  study 
and  writing." 

Dr.  Hague  had  his  profound  convictions,  and  acted  up 
to  them.  In  the  intense  period  in  which  he  lived,  it  was 
impossible  that  he  should  not  have  had  such  convictions ; 
and,  fearless  in  maintaining  what  he  deemed  to  be  the 
right,  he  was  bold  to  speak  and  act  as  he  thought.  Near 
the  close  of  his  first  pastorate  in  Boston,-  came  the  great 
discussion  pertaining  to  the  policy  of  the  American  Bible 
Society,  which  resulted  in  the  separate  activity  of  the 
Baptist  denomination  in  the  work  of  Bible-distribu- 
tion. In  that  discussion  he  bore  a  prominent  and  elo- 
quent part.  In  common  with  Dr.  William  R.  Williams 
and  a  few  others,  he  counselled  union  as  far  as  possible 
without  the  sacrifice  of  principle.  Dr.  Cone,  of  New 
York,  by  whom  Dr.  Hague  had  been  baptized  in  his 
youth,  was  enthusiastic  in  advocating  supreme  measures. 
Dr.  Hague  boldly,  but  kindly,  advocated  the  opposite. 
Respect  for  age  and  ecclesiastical  relations  might  have 


MEMORIAL     DISCOURSE.  41 

seemed  to  demand  at  least  a  silent  acquiescence  on  the 
part  of  the  junior  contestant.  But,  bold  in  his  sense  of 
expediency  and  of  right,  Dr.  Hague,  alluding  gracefully 
to  the  fact  of  his  baptism  by  "  the  old  man  eloquent,"  and 
to  their  present  divergence  of  opinion,  declining  to  bow  to 
human  authority,  exclaimed :  "  I  am  glad  that  when  you 
baptized  me,  I  was  baptized  into  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  not  into  the  name  of  Spencer  H.  Cone."  Yet  their 
friendship  was  not  broken. 

On  the  great  question  of  anti-slavery,  the  problem  of 
the  age  during  the  prime  and  manhood  of  his  ministry, 
he  was  advanced  in  his  ideas,  but  prudent,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  fearless.  "  His  speech  at  the  capitol  in 
Albany,  when  Sumner  was  struck  down  in  the  Senate, 
was  his  most  pronounced  political  utterance;  his  oration 
at  the  funeral  of  Secretary  William  L.  Marcy  was  one  of 
his  most  finished  productions."  He  prepared  for  the 
press  an  extended  review  of  the  "Letters  on  Anti- 
Slavery,"  by  Drs.  Wayland  and  Fuller,  meting  out  praise 
to  each  of  the  disputants  where  praise  was  deserved,  and 
pointing  out  defects  in  reasoning  with  an  even-handed 
justice,  without  fear  or  favor. 

Again,  during  a  period  of  intense  religious  excitement 
in  Boston,  many  were  drawn  to  favor  methods  and  meas- 
ures which  he  could  not  approve.  He  believed  in  reviv- 
als of  religion.  He  had  been  educated  in  this  way;  but 
he  believed  also  in  the  efficacy  of  the  ordinary  means  of 


42  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

grace,  under  which  he  had  been  accustomed  to  see  the 
church  built  up  and  multiplied.  After  a  careful  personal 
examination,  he  reported  to  his  church  that  he  could  not 
conscientiously  assent  to  certain  prevailing  measures. 
One  of  his  most  wise  and  judicious  deacons,  long  since 
gone  to  heaven,  not  only  approved  the  young  pastor's 
decision,  but  added:  "  And  I'll  stand  by  you." 

Dr.  Hague's  great  affability  and  transparent  simplicity 
of  character  won  for  him  the  friendship  of  persons  of  all 
ranks  and  denominations. 

He  was  firm  and  uncompromising  in  his  religious  con- 
victions. He  had  derived  his  decisions  from  a  personal 
investigation  of  history,  exegesis,  and  the  oracles  of 
Divine  truth,  and  allowed  no  compromise.  It  was  his 
last  recorded  utterance,  —  the  testimony  sealed  and  con- 
secrated by  his  dying  breath,  —  "  The  Baptists  need  no 
new  theology."  And  his  opinions  were  ever  heartily 
respected,  even  by  those  who  differed  from  him.  Those 
who  did  not  accept  his  theology  could  not  withhold  from 
him  their  love. 

Dr.  Hague  had  a  remarkable  gift  of  remembering  and 
recalling  persons,  events,  and  conversations.  After  the 
lapse  of  years,  he  was  able  to  quote  words  and  sentences 
which  he  had  heard,  and  to  give  his  own  words  and 
replies,  and  the  words  and  replies  of  those  with  whom  he 
had  conversed.  These,  at  least  in  many  instances,  were 
not  reconstructed,  but  remembered.     Attending,  in  1828, 


MEMORIAL     DISCOURSE.  43 

the  commencement  exercises  of  Harvard  University,  he 
treasured  up  some  sentences  in  the  oration  of  a  graduate 
of  the  day;  and,  after  many  years,  repeated  them  to  the 
distinguished  lawyer  —  Hon.  George  S.  Hillard  —  from 
whose  youthful  lips  they  had  fallen. 

He  appeared  to  advantage  on  the  arena  of  the  world's 
activities,  and  equally  so  in  conversation  with  the  inquirer 
and  the  honest  doubter.  His  wide  reading  and  experi- 
ence, and  knowledge  of  men  rendered  his  mind  rich  in 
resources.  His  sincere  interest  in  those  whom  he  could 
help  made  him  a  universal  friend.  Though  not  of  com- 
manding stature,  he  never  lacked  dignity  of  presence,  nor 
failed  to  inspire  respect.  With  the  utmost  affluence  of 
speech,  he  was  never  betrayed  into  a  thought  or  a  phrase 
unworthy  of  his  office,  or  an  expression  lacking  in  taste. 
To  the  simplicity  of  a  child  he  added  the  greatness  of  a 
man,  and  the  authority  of  a  teacher  to  the  affability  of  a 
companion.  When  he  had  ceased  from  stated  ministra- 
tions in  the  pulpit,  he  listened,  with  a  uniformly  just  ap- 
preciation, to  the  sermons  of  his  brethren  of  his  own  and 
other  denominations.  He  learned  obedience  to  the  will  of 
God  by  the  lessons  which  he  taught  to  others,  and  in  all 
vicissitudes  submitted  himself  without  questioning  to  the 
wisdom  of  the  Divine  plan.  Could  he  have  been  notified 
beforehand  that  that  Monday-morning  walk  would  take 
him  within  the  golden  gates  of  the  New  Jerusalem, 
we  are  persuaded  that  he  would  have  exclaimed  trium- 


M  MEMORIAL     OF     WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

phantly,  "Even  so,  Father,  for  so  it  seemed  good  in 
thy  sight ! " 

One  of  his  friends  said  of  him,  after  his  departure, 
"What  a  finely-adjusted,  harmoniously-related,  symmet- 
rical, Christian  life  he  lived!  I  never  knew  a  man  whose 
mental  and  spiritual  characteristics  were  so  exquisitely 
poised  —  so  perfect  and  entire,  lacking  nothing." 

Thanks  be  to  God  for  such  a  gift  to  the  church  and 
the  world! 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX. 


TRIBUTES  TO  THE   MEMORY  OF  DR.   WILLIAM  HAGUE. 


TRIBUTE    OF    REV.    J.    W.    OLMSTEAD,    D.D. 

At  the  funeral  services  for  Dr.  Hague,  in  the  Tremont  Temple,  Rev. 
Dr.  Olmstead,  editor  of  "  The  Watchman,"  spoke  as  follows  :  — 

"  The  summons  of  death  which  came  so  suddenly  to  our  beloved  friend, 
and  which  from  its  surroundings  has  so  startled  the  public,  has  a  voice 
to  the  living  which  we  cannot  emphasize.  William  Hague  was,  first  of 
all  and  preeminently,  a  minister  and  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 
He  was  a  man  who,  to  a  fine  education,  both  at  college  and  at  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  added  large  thought  and  reading.  His  scholarship 
and  literary  culture,  set  forth  in  a  style  of  rare  clearness  and  beauty, 
were  of  the  first  order.  An  outline  sketch  of  him,  along  with  that  of 
other  Boston  pastors,  written  by  Prof.  Heman  Lincoln,  and  published  in 
'  The  Watchman  and  Reflector,'  characterizes  him  as  '  the  Scholar 
Preacher.'  Such  he  was  forty  years  ago,  and  such  he  continued  to  be 
to  the  end  of  life.  His  mental  habitudes  of  reading  and  research,  of 
alert  activity  and  inquiry,  never  went  to  decay  with  growing  years.  It 
seemed  to  be  the  reverse  of  this,  instead.  The  latest  articles  contributed 
to  '  The  Watchman '  in  his  '  Life  Note '  series  —  even  those  within  a  year 
past  —  exhibited  the  same  comprehension,  the  same  discriminating 
freshness  and  vigor,  which  had  marked  anything  from  his  pen  of  the 


48  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

former  years,  with  perhaps  an  added,  as  natural,  ripeness  and  ma- 
turity of  thought. 

"  Yet,  allied  to  all  this,  Dr.  Hague  was  a  man,  as  all  who  knew  him 
can  testify,  of  the  largest  and  the  richest  religious  character.  His  sym- 
pathies were  most  readily  enkindled,  and  were  freely  enlisted  wherever, 
as  well  in  the  prayer-meeting  as  the  pulpit,  the  experimental  truths  of 
the  gospel  were  commended  to  men.  The  salvation  of  human  souls  as 
the  result  of  the  redeeming  work  of  Christ,  the  renewing  and  the  sancti- 
fying of  the  Holy  Spirit,  was  the  one  subject  which  engaged  and  ab- 
sorbed the  whole  great  energies  of  his  being.  Never  was  he  more  truly 
fired  with  earnest  zeal,  never  did  his  words  glow  with  more  eloquent 
fervor,  than  when,  as  was  so  often  the  case,  he  was  thus  engaged.  How 
many  there  are,  in  this  city  especially,  who  could  stand  up  as  witnesses 
to  the  truth  of  what  I  have  here  stated  !  I  say  '  in  this  city,'  where,  of 
the  several  churches  he  so  well  served,  as  in  other  cities  also,  there  was 
not  one  which  did  not  grow  in  numbers  and  in  strength  during  his  pas- 
torate of  each,  leaving  it  larger  in  its  membership,  and  richer  in  all  the 
resources  of  true  spiritual  power,  than  he  found  it. 

"  Dr.  Hague  was,  as  a  Christian  pastor,  through  a  period  of  half  a 
century,  always  the  exemplary  yet  cheerful  Christian  gentleman ;  exhib- 
iting himself,  and  seeking  to  cultivate  in  others,  a  piety  alike  cheerful 
and  consecrated  and  earnest.  He  was  especially,  even  in  his  most  ma- 
ture ministry,  winsome  to  young  people  ;  and  the  number  of  young  men 
whom  he  drew  to  his  side,  to  be  moulded  by  his  counsels  and  by  his 
life,  was  remarkable.  He  was,  as  a  preacher  and  a  theological  teacher, 
well  grounded  in  New  Testament  exegesis.  No  sentence,  as  we  easily 
call  to  mind,  oftener  dropped  from  his  lips  than  this,  viz.,  '  What  saith 
the  Scripture?'  It  was  this,  perhaps,  that  gave  to  his  thinking  and  to 
his  convictions  generally,  to  such  an  eminent  degree,  the  type  of  the 
New  Testament.  It  was  this,  as  truly,  that  made  him,  with  the  intensity 
of  increasing  fervor  to  the  last,  the  able  expounder  and  the  steadfast 
defender  of  the  ancient  and  the  changeless  faith  of  the  gospel  of  the 


APPENDIX.  49 

Son  of  God.  This  gospel  in  all  its  primitive  purity  he  believed  in  with 
all  the  great  powers  of  his  mind  and  heart.  Thence  and  therefore  he 
did  evermore  speak. 

"  And  these  words,  spoken  through  more  than  fifty  years  by  lips  now 
silent,  are  not  dead.  They  are  immortal,  as  the  spirit  of  him  who 
uttered  them  is  immortal.  Reenforced  as  these  vital  utterances  by 
voice  and  by  pen  were,  by  a  strong  and  by  a  stainless  character,  they 
will  yet  live  on  in  the  memories,  to  yield  fruitage  in  the  lives,  of  thou- 
sands of  the  living,  as  they  have  done  the  same  thing  for  at  least  an 
equal  number  now  passed  on  before.  What  consolation  to  his  dear  sur- 
viving children  and  family,  and  to  his  host  of  endeared  friends,  is  there 
in  such  a  contemplation !  Surely  among  those  of  our  generation  who 
have  richly  earned  the  plaudit  '  Well  done,'  must  stand  high  enrolled 
the  name  of  William  Hague. 

"  While 

"  '  His  name  is  writ 

Where  stars  are  lit,' 

there  could  be  no  more  fittiug  inscription  on  the  tombstone  built  to  his 
memory,  than  this  text  of  the  Scripture  he  so  much  revered  and  loved : 
'  They  that  be  wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament,  and 
they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness  as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever.'  " 


The  appreciative  remarks  of  Dr.  Olmstead  were  followed  by  Dr.  S.  F. 
Smith,  who,  in  closing,  read  as  follows  :  — 

Gone,  but  not  lost!   the  star  of  day, 

Merged  in  the  morning  radiance,  dies ; 
But  holds,  unseen,  its  onward  way, 

And  walks  in  glory  through  the  skies. 

The  brilliant  orbs  that  guard  the  night, 

Like  priests  around  their  altar  fires, 
Quenched,  but  not  lost,  a  living  light, 

Are  watching  still,  though  night  retires. 


50  MEMORIAL    OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

Gone,  but  not  lost!    the  glowing  sun 

Sinks,  weary,  'neath  the  darkening  west, 

But  though  his  daily  race  is  run, 
New  worlds   are  by  his  presence  blest. 

Gone,  but  not  lost!   the  summer's  bloom 
Lies  sleeping  'neath  the  wintry  snow ; 

But  richer  fruits  spring  from  the  tomb,  — 
From  dark  decay  fair  harvests  grow. 

Gone,  but  not  lost!   who  lives  sublime 
Lives  beyond  life,  —  he  cannot  die ; 

Born  for  all  years,  for  every  clime, 
His,  a  true  immortality. 

Farewell!   the  reverend  teacher  sleeps, — 
Taken,  alas !   yet  doubly  given ; 

His  life,  undimmed,  its  pathway  keeps, 
One  course,  alike,  in  earth  and  heaven. 

We  weep,  as,  one  by  one,  we   lay 
Our  brethren  with  the  garnered  host; 

While  gratefully  the  ages  say, 
No  saintly  life  is  ever  lost. 


TRIBUTE   OF  DR.    HENRY   M.   KING,   ALBANY,   N.Y. 

In  the  autumn  of  1853  Dr.  Hague  yielded  to  the  entreaty  of  this 
[Emmanuel]  church,  then  located  on  Pearl  street,  and  became  its  pastor. 
He  was  forty-five  years  of  age,  in  the  very  vigor  of  his  manhood,  and 
with  matured  powers  and  enlarged  experience,  competent,  under  God, 
to  do  an  important  work  in  this  community.  I  cannot  better  express 
my  appreciation  of  the  importance  and  excellence  of  his  service  in  con- 


APPENDIX.  51 

nection  with  this  church,  than  by  quoting  from  my  "  Historical  Dis- 
course," delivered  at  our  late  fiftieth  anniversary.  "  His  coming  was 
the  awakening  of  the  church  to  new  duties,  and  to  a  consciousness  of 
its  own  strength,  and  his  ministry  was  one  of  rare  inspiration,  sugges- 
tiveness,  and  helpfulness.  He  filled  the  pulpit.  He  unfolded  his  plans 
of  benevolence  and  church-extension  to  the  people,  and  they  met  with  a 
cordial  welcome  and  a  generous  response.  The  church-life  showed 
signs  of  unwonted  activity.  The  system  of  weekly  offerings  was 
adopted,  which  has  been  continued  in  the  church  down  to  the  present 
time.  A  mission  was  opened  and  earnestly  prosecuted  among  the 
Germans  ;  another  on  North  Broadway,  and  a  third  at  the  Bowery. 
Missionaries  were  employed  and  put  in  the  various  fields.  .  .  .  The 
church  assumed  the  appearance  of  a  busy  hive  of  workers.  There  may 
have  been  here  and  there  a  drone  ;  but  there  must  have  been  many  hearts 
enlisted  and  many  hands  engaged,  to  have  carried  on  so  multiform  and 
so  good  a  work." 

For  fifty  years  he  was  a  Trustee  of  Brown  University ;  for  many 
years  a  Trustee  of  Newton  Theological  Institution,  and  also  of  Colum- 
bian University,  in  Washington,  and  a  Trustee  of  Vassar  College  from 
its  founding  until  his  death,  and  an  intimate  friend  and  counsellor  of  its 
generous  founder.  In  all  these  positions,  as  in  many  others  to  which 
his  brethren  exalted  him,  he  was  faithful  to  his  important  trusts,  — 
wise  in  counsel,  conservative  in  his  judgment,  broad  in  his  sympathies, 
yet  loyal  to  his  convictions,  courteous  in  his  intercourse  with  all,  and 
actuated  by  the  highest  impulses  of  an  intelligent,  open-hearted,  broad- 
minded,  Christian  manhood.  His  voice  was  never  heard  but  with  atten- 
tion, and  always  carried  weight ;  and  when  he  had  spoken,  there  was  left 
upon  the  mind  of  every  hearer  the  impression  of  a  man  of  strong  indi- 
viduality, but  of  honest  purpose  and  transparent  character. 

As  a  preacher,  Dr.  Hague  was  largely  given  to  exposition,  and  was 


52  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

always  instructive,  helpful,  and  inspiring.  He  was  a  diligent  student 
of  the  Scriptures,  fixing  his  gaze  not  so  much  upon  individual  texts  in 
order  to  make  the  nice  distinctions  of  a  grammarian,  as  upon  the  great, 
underlying  principles,  the  advancing  arguments,  the  broad,  consecutive, 
and  related  truths  which  were  in  the  minds  of  the  inspired  writers.  He 
had  the  deep  insight  and  the  broad  grasp  of  a  born  interpreter.  Few 
men  are  able  to  unfold  so  clearly  the  line  of  thought  in  any  given  pas- 
sage of  God's  word,  and  show  its  application  to  the  individual  life,  or 
to  the  moral  and  social  problems  of  the  day,  as  was  Dr.  Hague.  His " 
expository  lectures  were  always  scenes  of  great  interest,  and  were  cal- 
culated to  awaken  in  all  minds  a  fresh  zeal  in  the  investigation  of 
divine  truth,  and  a  fresh  admiration  for  its  beauty  and  power.  His 
preaching  was  according  to  no  model.  He  acknowledged  no  human 
master  in  the  pulpit.  Acquainted  with  the  finest  specimens  of  pulpit 
literature,  as  he  undoubtedly  was,  he  was  a  slave  to  none.  Though 
original  in  his  pulpit  methods  and  unique  in  his  way  of  putting  things, 
he  ever  clung  to  the  old  truths  of  the  gospel  with  a  loyal  and  loving 
tenacity.  His  preaching  was  often  brilliant,  yet  never  with  the  flash  of 
some  meteoric  novelty  of  error,  but  always  with  the  pure  light  of 
revealed  truth,  as  it  kindled  and  glowed  in  his  soul.  His  whole  being 
seemed  wonderfully  responsive  to  the  magnetic  touch  of  great  thoughts, 
especially  if  they  were  thoughts  of  God,  his  redemptive  work  in  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  power  and  the  coming  of  his  glorious  kingdom.  As  he 
himself  was  moved  and  swayed  by  the  message  which  he  uttered,  so  he 
moved  and  swayed  those  who  listened  to  him.  Having  great  readiness 
in  speech  and  force  in  delivery,  he  often  rose  to  genuine  and  impressive 
eloquence.  When  he  was  borne  on  by  the  tide  of  his  rising  thought, 
and  his  quick,  nervous  gesture  corresponded  exactly  to  his  quick, 
nervous  utterance,  and  eye  and  look  and  attitude  added  their  combined 
emphasis  to  the  tones  of  his  voice,  his  very  form  seemed  to  tower  aloft 
and  rise  to  an  unwonted  height.  As  a  platform  speaker,  Dr.  Hague 
had  few  equals.     He  always  rose  to  the  greatness  of  the  occasion,  and, 


APPENDIX.  53 

with  a  marvellous  skill,  he  would  seize  the  central  thought  of  the  hour, 
and  in  his  own  felicitous  and  graphic  manner  would  present  it  in  impres- 
sive and  sublime  outline. 

Though  the  pastorates  of  Dr.  Hague  were  phenomenally  brief,  ranging 
from  less  than  two  to  six  years  at  the  longest,  yet  such  was  the  strength 
of  his  character  and  personality,  as  an  aggressive  leader,  a  vigorous 
thinker,  and  an  eloquent  and  inspiring  preacher,  that  he  left,  as  few 
ministers  have  done,  the  impress  of  his  mind  and  methods  on  the 
churches  to  which  he  ministered. 

In  his  removal,  another  of  the  few  remaining  links,  which  bind  the  past 
to  the  present  generation  of  ministers,  has  been  taken  away,  and  a  place 
left  vacant  which  will  not  be  soon  filled.  Beloved  and  greatly  esteemed 
while  he  lived,  he  will  be  widely  mourned  and  sincerely  honored  now  that 
he  is  dead.  The  influence  of  his  personal  character,  his  persuasive 
eloquence,  and  his  published  writings  will  still  abide  among  us,  though 
we  shall  be  charmed  by  his  living  words  and  see  his  face  no  more.  — 
From  the  Memorial  Discourse  on  Rev.  William  Hague,  D.D.,  delivered 
at  the  Emmanuel  Baptist  church,  Albany,  N.  Y.,  Sunday,  Sept.  18, 1887, 
by  the  pastor,  Rev.  Henry  Melville  King,  D.D. 


TRIBUTE   OF   THE   FIRST   BAPTIST   CHURCH,   BOSTON. 

In  August,  1887,  the  Reverend  William  Hague,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the 
First  Baptist  church  in  Boston  from  1831  to  1837,  and  of  the  Shawmut 
Avenue  Baptist  church  (now  united  with  the  First)  from  1865  to  1869, 
suddenly  passed  from  this  scene  of  his  activities  to  the  spirit-land  of  the 
blest,  and  with  this  event  was  closed  the  earthly  career  of  a  well-rounded 
life. 


54  MEMORIAL     OF     WILLIAM     HAGUE. 

Dr.  Hague  was  conspicuously  loyal  to  the  word  of  God.  He  illus- 
trated, in  his  own  life,  the  value  to  the  Christian  minister  of  learning, 
scholarship,  and  acquaintance  with  social  life,  the  study  of  modern 
thought  and  tendencies,  and  the  habit  of  independent  investigation. 
He  was  an  eloquent  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  a  devoted  servant  of  the 
Master,  and  a  friend  of  the  young,  in  whose  education  and  welfare  he 
showed  a  persistent  interest. 

In  grateful  recognition  of  the  purity  of  his  character,  of  his  faithful 
and  eminently  successful  labors  as  a  Christian  minister,  of  his  patriotic 
services  as  a  citizen,  and  of  the  great  aid  he  rendered  to  educational  and 
benevolent  institutions,  the  church  directs  this  testimonial  to  be  entered 
on  its  records,  and  a  copy,  duly  attested  by  the  clerk,  to  be  sent  to  his 
family. 

A  true  copy  of  the  Records  of  the  First  Baptist  church,  Boston. 

Attest:  WILLIAM   H.  FOSTER, 

Church  Clerk. 


TRIBUTE    OF   CLARENDON-STREET  BAPTIST    CHURCH,   BOSTON. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Clarendon-street  Baptist  church,  Boston,  held  on 
Tuesday,  Dec.  18,  1888,  the  following  resolutions  were  passed:  — 

Resolved,  That  this  church  desires  to  record  its  sense  of  loss  in  the 
3udden  death  of  Rev.  William  Hague,  D.D.,  connected  with  it  as  pastor 
in  the  days  when  it  was  known  as  the  Federal-street  Baptist  church. 

Called  to  the  pastorate  at  one  of  the  most  critical  points  in  its  history, 
he  served  it  for  eight  years,  from  1840  to  1848,  with  zeal  and  efficiency, 
and,  by  his  eloquent  preaching  and  faithful  watch-care,  brought  it  once 
more  to  a  condition  of  prosperity. 

The  church  feels  honored  in  numbering  among  its  pastors  one  so 


APPENDIX.  55 

widely  known  and  admired,  and  whose  long  and  able  presentation  of  the 
Gospel,  by  voice  and  pen,  has  contributed  so  much  to  the  success  of  the 
denomination  and  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  whose  mantle  of  Christian 
consecration  has  fallen  so  abundantly  upon  his  children  and  children's 
children. 

With  them  we  mourn  his  loss  to  us  and  to  the  world,  whose  interests, 
in  the  truest  and  broadest  sense,  lay  so  near  to  his  noble  heart. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  the  above  resolution  be  sent  to  Dr.  S.  F. 
Smith  for  publication  in  the  memorial  volume  upon  the  life  of  Dr. 
Hague. 

By  order  of  the  Church, 

THOMAS   J.   EMERY, 

Clerk. 


TRIBUTE  OF  THE  FIRST  BAPTIST  CHURCH,  PROVIDENCE,  R.I. 

The  Church  herewith  orders  to  be  placed  upon  its  record  the  decease 
of  Reverend  William  Hague,  Doctor  of  Divinity,  which  occurred  in  Bos- 
ton, Aug.  1,  1887. 

Dr.  Hague  was  its  pastor  from  June,  1837,  to  August,  1840. 
Though  it  is  fifty  years  since  he  took  this  charge,  and  though  he  had  it 
for  comparatively  a  short  time,  he  has  been  kept  in  honored  memory,  as 
a  faithful  minister,  who  has  done  good  service  in  the  kingdom  and 
patience  of  our  Lord  Jesus.  He  began  his  ministry  when  but  a  youth, 
and  was  allowed  of  God  to  abide  in  it  to  a  green  and  fruitful  old  age. 
It  was  exercised  in  many  places  ;  and  in  them  all  he  left  the  fragrance 
of  a  good  example,  an  affectionate  and  devoted  spirit,  as  well  as  the 
memory  of  a  very  skilful  and  edifying  dispensation  of  Divine  truth.  He 
was  a  very  animated  and  stirring  speaker.  His  gift  of  speech  and 
writing  was  apt,  incisive,  and,  often,  elegant.  It  fell  to  him  to  deliver 
a  commemorative  discourse  on  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  for- 


56  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

mation  of  this  church  ;  and  he  performed  the  duty  most  acceptably, 
with  good  historical  perspective,  and  in  hearty  sympathy  with  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  event. 

His  theology  was  scriptural,  didactic,  positive.  His  turn  of  mind 
and  his  training  were  literary  and  historical,  rather  than  theological  or 
philosophical.  His  spirit  was  humane,  evangelical,  catholic  ;  and  so  he 
became  a  shining  light  in  his  denomination,  and  was  recognized  as  one 
of  its  principal  orators.  For  nearly  sixty  years,  he  has  been  well  known 
in  our  churches  as  one  of  our  leading  preachers ;  and  this  church  is' 
glad,  as  having  shared  in  his  ministrations,  to  join  with  them  in  doing 
him  honor. 


TRIBUTE  OF  THE  TRUSTEES  OF  COLUMBIAN  UNIVERSITY. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Columbian  University,  held  on 
Wednesday,  September  21,  1887,  the  following  resolutions  were 
unanimously  adopted :  — 

Resolved.  That  in  the  death  of  the  Reverend  William  Hague,  D.D., 
the  Corporation  of  the  Columbian  University  has  been  called  to  mourn 
the  loss  of  a  wise  friend  and  counsellor,  who  in  the  days  of  his  profes- 
sional activity  was  equally  remarkable  for  his  oratorical  gifts  in  the 
pulpit  and  for  the  acuteness  and  breadth  of  his  perceptions  as  a  philo- 
sophical scholar;  who  in  the  scope  of  his  studies  was  wide,  liberal,  and 
catholic,  while  unflinching  in  the  maintenance  of  his  personal  convic- 
tions ;  who  mingled  among  men  of  various  opinions  with  a  gracious 
affability,  born  of  a  refined  and  generous  nature,  and  who  always  stood 
among  his  brethren  as  an  acknowledged  prince  and  leader. 

Resolved,  That  this  resolution  be  recorded  in  the  Minutes  of  the 
Board,  and  that  the  Secretary  of  the  University  be  requested  to  trans- 


APPENDIX.  57 

mit  a  copy  of  it  to  the  family  of  our  lamented  colleague,  as  a  token  of 
our  humble  tribute  to  his  beautiful  memory. 

ROBERT  C.  FOX, 

Secretary  of  the  Board. 


TRIBUTE   FROM  THE   TRUSTEES   OF   VASSAR   COLLEGE. 

The  Executive  Committee  of  Vassar  College,  having  heard  with  pro- 
found sorrow  the  announcement  of  the  death  of  the  Rev.  William 
Hague,  D.D.,  who,  since  the  founding  of  the  college,  has  been  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  desire  to  place  on  record  their  deep 
sense  of  personal  loss  in  his  removal,  and  their  high  appreciation  of  his 
pure  character,  his  eminent  ability,  and  his  intelligent,  active,  and  pro- 
longed devotion  to  the  interests  of  this  institution. 

It  is  not  for  us  to  speak  in  detail  of  his  great  reputation  as  an  instruc- 
tive and  eloquent  preacher,  of  his  position  as  an  acknowledged  leader  in 
his  own  denomination,  of  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  among 
all  Christian  communions,  or  even  of  his  active  and  honorable  connec- 
tion with  other  institutions  of  learning,  but  only  of  his  connection  with 
the  history  and  progress  of  Vassar  College. 

Honored  with  the  confidence  and  friendship  of  Mr.  Matthew  Vassar, 
he  entered  heartily  into  his  plan  of  founding  a  well-endowed  college  for 
women,  though  at  that  time  it  was  of  the  nature  of  an  experiment.  To 
him  fell  the  honor  and  privilege  of  accepting,  in  behalf  of  the  newly 
organized  Board  of  Trustees,  the  munificent  gift  of  the  founder.  This 
he  did,  in  an  address  of  remarkable  beauty,  comprehensiveness,  and 
power,  showing  that  he  fully  appreciated  the  greatness  and  significance 
of  the  new  enterprise,  or,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  the  nature,  the  dignity, 
and  the  scope  of  the  great  trust "  which  was  then  committed  to  their 
hands.     From   that   hour  until  the   time  of    his  decease,  Dr.  Hague's 


58  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

interest  in  the  college  was  unabated.  He  was  uniformly  present  at 
the  meetings  of  the  Board,  and  gave  to  the  consideration  of  its  impor- 
tant and  often  perplexing  business  the  benefit  of  his  practical  wisdom,  his 
large  experience,  his  fine  culture,  and  his  ready  sympathy.  He  found 
an  ever-deepening  joy  in  the  realization  of  his  cherished  hopes  for  the 
prosperity  and  usefulness  of  the  college,  and  predicted  for  it  a  career  of 
still  widening  and  far-reaching  influence. 

Among  his  associates  Dr.  Hague  was  always  dignified  and  courteous. 
Possessing  engaging  manners  and  rare  conversational  powers,  by  his 
urbanity  and  magnanimity  inspiring  the  confidence  and  winning  the 
warm  esteem,  he  left  upon  the  minds  of  all  the  impression  of  a  refined 
Christian  gentleman  and  scholar. 

In  the  removal  of  Dr.  Hague,  Vassar  College  mourns  the  loss  of  one 
of  its  warmest  friends  and  wisest  counsellors,  and  the  Board  of  Trustees 
is  deprived  of  the  presence  and  cooperation  of  another  of  its  corporate 
members,  who,  in  obedience  to  a  higher  call,  are  rapidly  relinquishing 
the  trusts  which  they  have  administered  with  such  distinguished  fidelity. 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   THE   BOSTON   BAPTIST   SOCIAL   UNION. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Boston  Baptist  Social  Union  after  the 
summer  recess  of  1887,  Rev.  Dr.  Alvah  Hovey,  President  of  Newton 
Theological  Institution,  was  introduced  to  speak  of  Rev.  William  Hague, 
D.D.,  one  of  the  four  honorary  members  of  the  Union,  at  that  date, 
two  of  whom  survived,  viz.,  the  speaker  and  Rev.  S.  F.  Smith,  D.D., 
and  two  had  departed,  viz.,  Revs.  R.  H.  Neale,  D.D.,  and  Dr.  Hague. 

Address  of  Dr.  Hovey. 

Mr.  President  and  Brothers:  By  your  action  at  different  times,  four 
clergymen  have  been  made  honorary  members  of  this  Social  Union,  and 


APPENDIX.  59 

it  is  safe  to  say  that  all  of  them  have  esteemed  their  connection  with 
you  a  high  privilege.  But  two  of  them  are  no  longer  here.  Eight  year6 
ago  Dr.  Rollin  H.  Neale  was  called  to  enter  a  greater  and  holier  union 
above ;  and,  since  our  last  meeting,  Dr.  William  Hague  has  been  ex- 
alted to  the  same  blessed  fellowship.  Both  are  now,  as  we  heartily 
believe,  with  "  the  spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect,"  enjoying  a  com- 
munion more  serene  and  satisfying  than  any  which  was  known  to  them 
on  earth.  We  cannot,  indeed,  with  the  eye  of  sense,  behold  them  there 
with  the  Lord ;  but  with  the  eye  of  faith  it  is  easy  for  us  to  catch  a 
glimpse  of  their  rest  in  glory.  Of  Dr.  Hague,  whom  you  all  have 
known,  and  who  passed  with  scarcely  a  moment's  conscious  suffering 
out  of  the  seen  into  the  unseen,  I  have  been  asked  to  say  a  few  words 
this  evening ;  and  they  shall  be  few,  though  it  would  be  pleasant  to 
make  them  many. 

Dr.  Hague  was  born  on  the  fourth  day  of  January,  1808,  and  was 
taken  from  this  life  on  the  first  day  of  August,  1887,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-nine  yeai*s,  six  months,  and  twenty-eight  days.  He  was  gradu- 
ated from  College  when  eighteen,  and  from  the  Theological  Seminary 
when  twenty-one.  The  same  year  he  was  ordained,  and  from  that  time 
to  the  hour  of  his  death  was  loved  and  honored  as  a  true  "  man  of 
God."  Through  more  than  half  a  century  he  was  a  public  teacher  of 
Christian  truth,  widely  known  and  greatly  esteemed  in  our  denomina- 
tion. My  acquaintance  with  him  began  forty-two  years  ago,  when  he 
was  already  in  his  prime,  glowing  with  health  and  vigor,  enriched  by  the 
experience  of  sixteen  years  of  fruitful  service,  and  sustained  by  the 
confidence  and  cooperation  of  a  loyal  church. 

His  preaching,  as  I  soon  learned,  was  marked  by  many  fine  qualities. 
It  was  certainly  Biblical,  instructive,  and  eloquent.  That  it  was  Biblical 
could  never  have  been  a  matter  of  surprise  to  any  who  knew  the  work- 
ings of  his  mind.  For  his  confidence  in  God's  written  Word  was  un- 
wavering, and  his  recognition  of  the  New  Testament  as  the  rule  of  our 
faith  was  constant.     A  sentence  from  the  lips  of  Jesus  was  to  him  the 


60  MEMORIAL     OF     WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

end  of  controversy.  A  principle  or  practice  approved  by  the  apostles 
was  accepted  by  him  as  authoritative,  —  new  enough  to  kindle  enthusi- 
asm, old  enough  to  satisfy  reason,  and  sacred  enough  to  bind  con- 
science. It  was  his  conviction  that  theology,  in  order  to  be  true,  must 
be  drawn  from  the  Bible,  and  that  a  Theological  Seminary,  in  order  to 
be  useful,  must  be  a  school  of  Biblical  interpretation.  Four  years  after 
graduating  from  Newton,  he  returned  to  address  the  alumni,  and  then 
took  occasion  to  say  :  "  Those  who  study  theology  in  the  systems  which 
men  have  made,  instead  of  forming  a  system  for  themselves  by  a.  care- 
ful induction  of  facts,  as  they  appear  in  the  Bible,  may,  indeed,  pride 
themselves  in  the  symmetry  of  their  scheme  .  .  .  but,  alas  !  they 
will  often  find  that  the  order  and  aim  of  Christian  doctrines,  as  they 
appear  in  the  gospel  itself,  will  go  directly  athwart  its  nicely-drawn 
parallel  lines,  and  set  at  nought  its  fictitious  comeliness."  And  one  of 
the  last  sentences  which  he  uttered  on  earth  was  an  avowal  of  the  suffi- 
ciency of  Christian  doctrines  as  old  as  the  New  Testament.  Naturally, 
then,  his  sermons  were  built  on  foundations  laid  by  "holy  men,  who 
spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  were  illustrated,  to 
a  considerable  extent,  by  facts  recorded  in  Scripture.  Thus  he  wrought 
skilfully  to  fulfil  his  expressed  desire,  that  "the  day  may  soon  come 
when  the  principle,  that  the  Bible  is  the  only  rule  of  a  Christian's  faith, 
shall  be  exalted  to  a  practical  supremacy  throughout  Christendom." 
Men  who  listened  to  his  preaching  became,  as  a  consequence,  intelligent 
readers  of  God's  Word,  and  many  of  them  learned  to  reverence  its 
authority. 

Morever,  the  Biblical  character  of  his  preaching  rendered  it  instruc- 
tive. For  there  is  no  storehouse  of  Divine  truth  from  which  one  can 
bring  such  treasures  of  things  new  and  old,  as  the  Bible.  There  is  no 
well  of  water,  springing  up  into  life  eternal,  so  pure  and  deep  and  re- 
freshing as  this.  But  while  Dr.  Hague  was  a  student  of  the  Bible,  and 
always  ready  to  give  it  the  first  place  in  his  teaching,  he  did  not  limit 
his  search  for  truth  to  this  august  volume.     His  mind  was  logical,  in- 


APPENDIX.  61 

quisitive,  observant,  aud  hospitable  to  truth  from  any  source  whatever. 
He  read  many  books  and  periodicals  ;  he  watched  with  keen  interest  the 
"  signs  of  the  times  ;  "  he  studied  the  ever-changing  currents  of  thought 
and  feeling  in  our  age,  and  he  enriched  his  discourse  with  facts,  signifi- 
cant of  principles,  from  every  stratum  of  life.  It  was  not  in  his  heart 
to  despise  the  stars,  because  he  could  look  upon  the  face  of  the  sun. 
Besides,  he  was  solicitous  to  know  the  sentiments  of  men,  in  order  that 
he  might  set  before  them,  in  the  most  persuasive  way,  the  claims  of 
God.  Aud  so,  by  all  that  I  heard  from  his  lips  or  have  read  from  his 
pen,  I  am  led  to  speak  of  his  preaching  as  eminently  instructive.  In 
him  the  churches  had  a  teacher,  —  one  who  brought  to  the  sanctuary  the 
bread  of  life,  one  whom  they  could  respect  as  an  interpreter  of  the 
sacred  oracles,  one  who  was  really  competent  to  assist  them  in  coming 
to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth.  May  there  be  many  like  him  in  this  re- 
spect!  Paul  declares  that  a  bishop  must  be  "apt  to  teach."  Let  us 
thank  God  for  the  true  teachers  whom  he  calls  into  our  pulpits. 

Dr.  Hague's  preaching  was  also  eloquent.  There  was  in  it  a  fluency, 
a  brilliancy,  and  a  variety,  both  of  diction  and  of  utterance,  which  can 
be  described  by  no  other  word.  Some  of  his  sentences  were  delivered 
in  an  easy,  rapid,  conversational  manner  ;  but  they  were  commonly  fol- 
lowed by  others  uttered  with  commanding  energy  of  look  and  voice,  aud 
often  with  a  ringing  emphasis  on  the  last  word  or  clause.  His  bearing 
in  the  pulpit  was  self-possessed  and  manly  ;  his  motions  quick,  full  of 
life,  and,  withal,  graceful ;  his  elocution,  original,  distinctive,  and  gen- 
erally pleasing.  His  hearers  were  not  likely  to  fall  asleep  while  he  was 
speaking.  When  he  cried  "  0  friends  !  "  they  listened  to  what  he  had 
to  say.  A  true  man  was  before  them,  inviting  them  to  think,  judge, 
decide,  act,  and  it  was  difficult  for  them  to  parry  the  force  of  his 
appeals.  Like  Apollos,  he  was  an  eloquent  man.  And  this  was  true  of 
him  on  the  platform  as  well  as  in  the  pulpit.  Few  questions  pertaining 
to  the  welfare  of  the  church,  the  nation,  or  the  race,  escaped  his 
scrutiny,  and  few  men  could  explain  with  more  clearness  or  effect  their 


62  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

reasons  for  the  views  which  they  championed.  In  the  storm  of  debate 
before  a  great  assembly,  and  in  the  calm  deliberation  of  a  select  Board, 
I  have  heard  him  speak  with  almost  equal  beauty  and  cogency.  He 
loved  our  denomination,  our  schools  of  learning,  and  our  American 
homes ;  he  loved  our  government,  our  people,  and  the  strangers  within 
our  gates ;  he  was  a  friend  of  emancipation,  of  temperance  and  of 
reform,  wherever  evil  exists.  But,  though  decided  and  outspoken,  he 
was  singularly  free  from  bitterness.  The  largeness  of  his  nature,  under 
the  influence  of  Divine  grace,  preserved  him  from  wrath,  unless  it  were 
a  holy  indignation  at  wrong,  which  must  be  approved  rather  than  de- 
plored. It  is  not,  then,  surprising  that  he  was  welcome  to  the  platform 
as  well  as  to  the  pulpit.  A  speaker  with  mind  so  bright,  with  knowl- 
edge so  ample,  with  temper  so  just,  with  language  so  choice,  with  sym- 
pathies so  generous,  with  aims  so  high,  will  command  a  hearing  any- 
where. I  need  not  say  that  Dr.  Hague  was  one  whom  the  people  were 
always  glad  to  hear. 

But  he  was  a  writer  as  well  as  a  speaker,  an  author  as  well  as  an 
orator  ;  and  it  was  the  same  cause  —  the  cause  of  truth,  of  God,  and  of 
human  weal  —  which  he  sought  to  advance  in  both  forms  of  address.  I 
say  "  forms  of  address,"  because  in  writing  as  well  as  in  speaking  he  had 
before  his  mind  living  men  whose  hearts  and  consciences  were  to  be 
moved.  Permit  me  to  read  the  title  of  some  of  his  productions  :  "  Eight 
Views  of  Baptism,"  "  The  Baptist  Church  Transplanted  from  the  Old 
World  to  the  New,"  "  Review  of  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Cooke  and  Towne's 
'  Hints  to  an  Inquirer  on  the  subject  of  Baptism,'  "  and  "  An  Examina- 
tion of  their  '  Rejoinder  '  to  his  '  Review,'  "  —  all  scholarly  works  ; 
"Guide  to  Conversation  on  the  Gospel  of  John," — much  in  little; 
"Review  of  Drs.  Fuller  and  Wayland  on  Slavery,"  —  in  which  the 
positions  of  Dr.  Fuller  and  certain  concessions  of  Dr.  Wayland  are 
boldly  controverted  ;  "  Christianity  and  Statesmanship," — a  topic  after 
his  own  heart, —  and  "Home  Life,"  which  is  treated  with  sympathy 
and  discrimination.     To  these  should  be  added  several  Discourses  of 


APPENDIX.  63 

great  merit,  published  from  time  to  time  by  request,  and  a  great  number 
of  articles  for  the  religious  press,  especially  for  "  The  Watchman,"  all 
of  them  being  distinguished  by  the  earnestness,  literary  taste,  and  prac- 
tical aim  which  characterized  his  life-work  at  every  point. 

In  regard  to  the  length  of  his  pastorates  Dr.  Hague  was  a  law  unto 
himself.  They  wei*e  all  brief,  when  compared  with  those  of  his  ablest 
compeers ;  yet  not  because  his  people  desired  them  to  be  so,  but  because 
he  deemed  it  wise  and  best  to  make  them  so.  He  left  the  churches 
which  he  served  in  good  condition,  hopeful  and  united.  In  a  word,  his 
public  life,  though  distinguished  for  unity  of  aim,  superiority  of  talent, 
enthusiasm  for  work,  evenness  of  temper,  and  success  in  doing  good, 
was  "signalized"  by  more  numerous  changes  of  location  than  that  of 
any  minister  of  equal  capacity  whom  I  have  known. 

Dr.  Hague  had  a  bright  intellect,  versatile  as  well  as  active,  a  judg- 
ment of  his  own,  which,  on  almost  every  question,  was  independent,  but 
not  erratic,  a  spirit  manful  and  self-respecting  without  vanity,  a  heart 
true  and  warm  beyond  the  expression  of  his  countenance  or  even  the 
tone  of  his  voice,  and  a  courtesy  which  never  failed  in  private  inter- 
course or  in  the  ardor  of  public  debate.  Moreover,  he  was  habitually 
cheerful,  without  levity.  I  do  not  think  his  sense  of  humor  was  equal 
to  his  logical  acumen.  I  doubt  whether  he  paid  much  attention  to  the 
ludicrous  side  of  conduct ;  certainly,  he  did  not  undertake  to  represent 
it  in  public  speech.  He  was  no  rival  to  his  brother  Neale  in  rehearsing 
an  amusing  anecdote.  If  he  ever  attempted  to  excite  laughter  by  an 
after-dinner  talk,  I  was  not  present  to  judge  of  his  success.  It  may 
also  be  admitted  that  the  tones  of  his  voice  were  not  specially  favorable 
to  pathetic  expression.  One  needed  to  know  him  well  in  order  to  appre- 
ciate then*  meaning.  But  of  this,  at  least,  every  hearer  might  be  sure, 
that  they  never  suggested  a  deeper  emotion  than  he  felt.  All  was 
sincere. 

Of  the  domestic  life  of  our  brother  I  have  no  time,  or  indeed  right, 
to  speak.     Yet  from  the  few  glimpses  of  that    life  which  I  was  per- 


64  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

mitted  to  have,  long  years  ago,  I  am  confident  that  it  was  pure,  and 
sweet,  and  grateful  to  his  spirit ;  that  his  home  was  far  dearer  to  his 
heart  than  the  rostrum,  the  queen  of  his  household  more  to  him  than 
any  other  earthly  good,  and  the  children  about  his  hearth,  jewels  be- 
yond price.  So  when  the  wife  and  mother  was  taken  awa}7,  when  the 
children,  too,  had  made  other  homes  for  themselves,  it  is  not  strange 
that  he  sometimes  walked  apart  from  his  fellows  for  a  little,  and  mused 
on  the  loneliness  of  his  lot. 

I  cannot  close  this  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Dr.  Hague  with,  more 
fitting  words  than  he  used  of  Dr.  Neale  :  "  A  completed  mission — a 
well-rounded  life-work,  in  accordance  with  the  design  of  the  Creator, 
rich  in  the  fruitage  of  Christian  graces  garnered  up  in  personal 
character — is  now,  as  of  old,  the  one  supreme  good  that  meets  the 
deepest  need  and  the  highest  aspiration  of  which  human  nature  is 
capable.  Hence  this  song  of  promise,  sung  by  one  of  the  earliest 
Oriental  poets,  —  '  Thou  shalt  come  to  thy  grave  in  a  full  age,  like  as  a 
shock  of  corn  cometh  in  in  his  seasoii,' —  sets  forth  the  departure  of  a 
faithful  man  '  in  full  age '  as  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  nature  and  fit- 
ness of  things,  imparting  to  the  close  of  his  earthly  course  a  radiance 
of  festal  beauty  like  the  autumnal  welcome  of  the  ripe  sheaf  to  its 
garner." 


MONODY, 

BY    EEV.    S.    F.    SMITH,    D.D. 

[Read  at  the  Boston  Baptist  Social   Union. ] 

We  emulate  the  path  thy  feet  have  trod, 
Brother,  beloved  of  men,  approved  of  God ; 
Thou  of  the  brilliant  speech  and  silver  tongue, 
On  thy  dear  lips  have  wondering  thousands  hung. 


APPENDIX.  65 

Preacher  and  pastor,  faithful,  polished,  mild, 

A  man  in  stature,  and  in  love,  a  child, 

Whose  look  was  eloquence,  his  words,  a  power, 

His  life,  a  magic  force,  — his  faith,  a  tower, 

His  memory  vast,  an  unexhausted  store,  — 

His  soul,  a  volume  of  historic  lore ; 

Man  of  the  people,  whom  he  swayed  at  will, 

Man  of  the  study  and  the  polished  quill,  — 

All  good  he  praised,  he  pitied  where  he  scorned, 

And,  wise  as  just,  whate'er  he  touched,  adorned ; 

Skilful  expounder  of  the  Sacred  Word, 

Quick  to  discern,  prompt  to  reveal  his  Lord ; 

Profound  in  thought,  wise  to  observe  the  times, 

His  mind,  capacious,  could  embrace  all  climes, 

Lived  in  all  ages,  took  in  land  and  sea, 

The  past,  the  present,  and  the  yet-to-be ; 

His  fervent  heart  no  years  could  make  grow  cold, 

And  age,  advancing,  never  made  him  old; 

To  the  old  standards  of  the  gospel  true, 

Nor  spurned  the  old,  nor  pined  for  doctrines  new ; 

Maintained  the  ancient  truth  with  courage  bold, 

That  truth,  forever  new,  forever  old, 

And  as  he  died,  —  heeding  the  Master's  call, 

Pronounced  that  truth  enough  for  him  —  for  all. 

How  nobly  fitting  was  the  parting  hour ! 
One  pulse,  the  bud  —  the  next,  the  full-blown  flower; 
One  instant  here,  the  next,  beyond  the  skies, 
Now,  earth's  high  noon  —  now,  noon  in  Paradise  ; 
This  moment,  bound  by  human  woes  and  bars, 
The  next,  in  peerless  light,  beyond  the  stars; 
From  earth's  high  summer  snatched,  and  blooming  bowers. 
To  heaven's  immortal  glow  and  fadeless  flowers ; 
Now,  on  the  threshold  of  the  temple  here, 
Now,  bowed  before  the  inmost  altar  there ; 
With  what  strange  joy  the  conqueror  upward  rode, 
To  worship,  reverent,  at  the  throne  of  God ! 


66  MEMORIAL     OF    WILLIAM    HAGUE. 

Ascended  brother,  may  the  mantle  blest 
That  fell  from  thee,  on  many  a  prophet  rest, 
Thy  trumpet-voice  still  sound  the  loud  alarm, 
Thy  magic  notes  linger  to  rouse  and  charm, 
And,  Heaven's  high  heralds,  Heaven's  high  service  done, 
Achieve  the  honors,  brother,  thou  hast  won. 


A  beautiful  and  life-like  portrait  of  Dr.  Hague  was  presented  to  the 
Boston  Baptist  Social  Union  at  their  Monthly  Meeting,  Dec.  31,  1888, 
by  Mr.  A.  N.  Hardy,  the  artist,  of  Boston. 


THE  PUBLISHED  WORKS  OF   WILLIAM   HAGUE. 


Historical  Discourse,     Two  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  First  Baptist 

Church,  Providence,  R.I.       (Boston,  1839.) 
Eight  Views  of  Baptism.     (1841.) 
The   Baptist   Church   Transplanted  from  the  Old  World  to  the   New. 

(New  York,  1846.) 
Guide  to  Conversation  on  the  Gospel  of  John.     (Boston.) 
Conversational  Commentaries  on  the  Gospel  of  Matthew.     (1835.) 
Conversational  Commentaries  on  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.     (1845.) 
Review  of  Drs.  Fuller  and  Wayland  on  Slavery.      (Boston.) 
Christianity  and   Statesmanship.       (New  York,    1855 ;    enlarged    edi- 
tion, Boston,  1865.) 
Home  Life.      (New  York,  1855.) 

The  Authority  and  Perpetuity  of  the  Christian  Sabbath.     (1863.) 
The  Self -Witnessing  Character  of  the  New  Testament  Christianity. 

(Philadelphia,  1871.) 
Christian  Greatness  in  the  Minister.     (Boston,  1880.) 
Life  Notes  ;  or,  Fifty  Years'  Outlook.     (Boston,  1888.) 

Dr.  Hague  was  also  the  author  of  numerous  Occasional  Addresses 
and  Orations,  including  Discourses  on  the  Life  and  Character  of  John 
Quincy  Adams  and  Adoniram  Judson. 


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